Syntheses and characterization of few bio-ionic liquids comprising of cholinium cation and plant derived carboxylic acids as anions

Abstract

Due to the increasing trend to use ionic liquids (ILs) for number of applications, it is of utmost importance to ensure non toxicity of the solvent systems which may contaminate the processed products. The reported toxicity of several imidazolium based ionic liquids posed a need to develop bio based ILs for various applications which are due to their bio-origin are bio compatible, nontoxic and biodegradable. Herein eleven bio-based ionic liquids were prepared using acid moieties available in various plants and characterized. Although some of the ILs were used to separate antibodies such as IgG from rat serum in the form of aqueous biphasic systems but to find their direct application for material preparation and food applications, herein rheological behavior of the ILs were investigated. The choline based IL containing coumarine-3-carboxylate was found to have highest zero shear viscosity while the IL with D-(−)-quinate was found to have the lowest. The viscoelastic behavior of the ionic liquids established anion dependent viscous and liquid like behavior of the ionic liquids. Interestingly the ILs showed viscosity independent ion conductivity. Due to the high conductivity, stable physical state and bio-origin such ILs have the potential for applications in electrochemistry, food and material science.