title: Interaction of Ionic Liquids with a Lipid Bilayer: A Biophysical Study of Ionic Liquid Cytotoxicity.
abstract: Ionic liquids (ILs) have been widely considered and used as "green solvents" for more than two decades. However, their ecotoxicity results have contradicted this view, as ILs, particularly hydrophobic ones, are reported to exhibit high toxicity. Yet the origin of their toxicology remains unclear. In this work, we have investigated the interaction of amphiphilic ILs with a lipid bilayer as a model cell membrane to understand their cytotoxicity at a molecular level. By employing fluorescence imaging and light and X-ray scattering techniques, we have found that amphiphilic ILs could disrupt the lipid bilayer by IL insertion, end-capping the hydrophobic edge of the lipid bilayer, and eventually disintegrating the lipid bilayer at high IL concentration. The insertion of ILs to cause the swelling of the lipid bilayer shows strong dependence on the hydrophobicity of IL cationic alky chain and anions and is strongly correlated with the reported IL cytotoxicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan 48202, United States.
authors.forename: Benxin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan 48202, United States.
authors.forename: Yingxi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D051381:Rats; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D052578:Ionic Liquids; D008051:Lipid Bilayers