Toxicity and biodegradability of ionic liquids: New perspectives towards whole-cell biotechnological applications

Persistence of selected ammonium- and phosphonium-based ionic liquids in urban park soil microcosms

“…It is generally thought that relatively high thermal and chemical stability of ILs contributes to their low biodegradability (Quijano et al, 2011;Neumann et al, 2012), primarily on in aquatic environments (Coleman and Gathergood, 2010;Ford et al, 2010;Stolte et al, 2011). This is true for ammonium-, imidazolium-, phosphonium-and pyridinium-based ILs.…”

Chronic effects of the ionic liquid [C4mim][Cl] towards the microalga Scenedesmus quadricauda

“…Previous studies into IL biodegradation by microbial communities have indicated that [C 4 mim] ('Bmim') is relatively stable towards microbial metabolism (Quijano et al, 2011). However, cases of [C 4 mim] metabolism have been reported, in Fusarium sp.…”

Design of an ionic liquid as a solvent for the extraction of a pharmaceutical intermediate

“…Also, these authors concluded that tuning of ILs, by varying the cation, anion and alkyl chain length, is necessary to optimize and expand the list of potential ILs that can be employed in the bioreactor technology. Further, Quijano et al [13] performed experiments to study the compatibility of four different ILs (3 imidazolium and 1 ammonium based) in the whole-cell biotechnological process by measuring IL toxicity towards micro-organisms and biodegradability. As numerous combinations of ILs exist ($10 18 ) [14], performing experiments to find ILs suitable for specific applications require time and are, also, expensive.…”