The application of ionic liquids (ILs) has grown enormously, from their use as simple solvents, catalysts, media in separation science, or electrolytes to that as task-specific, tunable molecular machines with appropriate properties. A thorough understanding of these properties and structure–property relationships is needed to fully exploit their potential, open new directions in IL-based research and, finally, properly implement the appropriate applications. In this work, we investigated the structure–properties relationships of a series of alkyltriethylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [TEA-R][TFSI] ionic liquids in relation to their thermal behavior, structure organization, and self-diffusion coefficients in the bulk state using DSC, FT-IR, SAXS, and NMR diffusometry techniques. The phase transition temperatures were determined, indicating alkyl chain dependency. Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy studies revealed the structuration of the ionic liquids along with alkyl chain elongation. SAXS experiments clearly demonstrated the existence of polar/non-polar domains. The alkyl chain length influenced the expansion of the non-polar domains, leading to the expansion between cation heads in polar regions of the structured IL. 1H NMR self-diffusion coefficients indicated that alkyl chain elongation generally caused the lowering of the self-diffusion coefficients. Moreover, we show that the diffusion of anions and cations of ILs is similar, even though they vary in their size.

Abstract“Western diet” containing high concentrations of sugar and fat consumed during pregnancy contributes to development of obesity and diabetes type 2 in offspring. To mimic effects of this diet in animals, a cafeteria (CAF) diet is used. We hypothesized that CAF diet given to rats before, and during pregnancy and lactation differently influences fat content, metabolic and inflammation profiles in offspring. Females were exposed to CAF or control diets before pregnancy, during pregnancy and lactation. At postnatal day 25 (PND 25), body composition, fat contents were measured, and blood was collected for assessment of metabolic and inflammation profiles. We have found that CAF diet lead to sex-specific alterations in offspring. At PND25, CAF offspring had: (1) higher percentage of fat content, and were lighter; (2) sex-specific differences in levels of glucose; (3) higher levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α); (4) sex-specific differences in concentration of IL-6 and TNF-α, with an increase in CAF females; (5) higher level of IL-10 in both sexes, with a more pronounced increase in females. We concluded that maternal CAF diet affects fat content, metabolic profiles, and inflammation parameters in offspring. Above effects are sex-specific, with female offspring being more susceptible to the diet.

1H and 19F spin-lattice relaxation experiments have been performed for a series of ionic liquids sharing the same anion: bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide but including cations of different alkyl chain lengths: butyltriethylammonium, triethyloctylammonium, dodecyltriethylammo-nium and hexadecyltriethylammonium. The studies have been carried out in the temperature range from 383 to 108 K at the resonance frequency of 200 MHz (for 1H). A quantitative analysis of the relaxation data has revealed two dynamical processes for both kinds of ions. The dynamics have been successfully modeled in terms of the Arrhenius law. The timescales of the dynamical processes and their temperature evolution have been discussed in detail, depending on the structure of the cation.

“Western diet” containing high concentrations of sugar and fat consumed during pregnancy contributing to development of obesity and diabetes type 2 in offspring. To mimic effects of this diet, in animals cafeteria (CAF) diet is used. We hypothesis that CAF diet given to rats before, during pregnancy and lactation differently influence fat content, metabolic and inflammation profiles in offspring. Female were exposed to CAF or control diets before pregnancy, during pregnancy and lactation. At postnatal day 25 (PND 25) body composition, fat contents were measured, blood was collected for assessment of metabolic and inflammation profiles. We have found that CAF diet leaded to sex-specific alterations in offspring. At PND25, CAF offspring had: 1) higher percentage of fat content and were lighter; 2) sex-specific differences in levels of glucose; 3) higher levels of interleukins 6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α); 4) sex-specific differences in concentration of IL-6 and TNF-α, with increase in CAF females; 5) higher level of IL-10 in both sex, with bigger increase in females. We concluded that maternal CAF diet affects fat content, metabolic profiles, and inflammation parameters in offspring. Above effects are sex-specific, with female offspring being more susceptible to the diet.