Recent progress of task‐specific ionic liquids in chiral resolution and extraction of biological samples and metal ions

Ionic liquids have been functionalized for modern applications. The functional ionic liquids are also called task‐specific ionic liquids. Various task‐specific ionic liquids with certain groups have been constructed and exploited widely in the field of separation. To take advantage of their properties in separation science, task‐specific ionic liquids are generally used in techniques such as liquid–liquid extraction, solid‐phase extraction, gas chromatography, high‐performance liquid chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. This review mainly covers original research papers published in the last five years, and we will focus on task‐specific ionic liquids as the chiral selectors in chiral resolution and as extractant or sensor for biological samples and metal ion purification.     

Synthesis of Ammonium-Based Ionic Liquids for the Extraction Process of a Natural Pigment (Betanin)

The use of new synthesized ammonium-based ionic liquids was explored as an alternative to the current process implemented in the betanin extraction from red beet juice, resulting in high yields: 70% and 82%. Betanin is a vegetal pigment that has been applied to a large variety of products in the food industry, which is important, for it can work as a substitute for the red synthetic dyes used nowadays. Additionally, the use of the kosmotropic salt sodium acetate was explored in order to separate the complex formed by the ionic liquid and pigment of interest in a process that combined two techniques: ATPS (aqueous two-phase system) and SOES (salting-out extraction system). The results reveal that the studied techniques could work as a novel process for the extraction of betanin from red beet juice employing ionic liquids, which have not been tested for this purpose in other research.     

轻质油品非加氢脱硫技术*

日益严格的环保法规,对生产低硫、超低硫清洁油品技术提出了更高的要求。传统的加氢脱硫技术存在投资大、运行成本高等问题,因此开发成本低、操作条件温和的非加氢脱硫技术成为一种趋势。本文综述了目前轻质油品非加氢脱硫的相关技术,主要包括氧化脱硫、吸附脱硫和生物脱硫等技术的研究进展;简要介绍了萃取脱硫、络合脱硫、催化裂化脱硫、烷基化脱硫、膜分离脱硫及离子液体脱硫等技术;同时对轻质油品非加氢脱硫技术的应用前景进行了展望。     

Ionic liquids: solvents and sorbents in sample preparation

The applications of ionic liquids (ILs) and IL‐derived sorbents are rapidly expanding. By careful selection of the cation and anion components, the physicochemical properties of ILs can be altered to meet the requirements of specific applications. Reports of IL solvents possessing high selectivity for specific analytes are numerous and continue to motivate the development of new IL‐based sample preparation methods that are faster, more selective, and environmentally benign compared to conventional organic solvents. The advantages of ILs have also been exploited in solid/polymer formats in which ordinarily nonspecific sorbents are functionalized with IL moieties in order to impart selectivity for an analyte or analyte class. Furthermore, new ILs that incorporate a paramagnetic component into the IL structure, known as magnetic ionic liquids (MILs), have emerged as useful solvents for bioanalytical applications. In this rapidly changing field, this Review focuses on the applications of ILs and IL‐based sorbents in sample preparation with a special emphasis on liquid phase extraction techniques using ILs and MILs, IL‐based solid‐phase extraction, ILs in mass spectrometry, and biological applications.     

新型高电压电解液用于锂电池的研究进展

传统碳酸酯电解液在高压条件下会持续氧化分解,严重制约了高压锂电池的发展,因此需要结合绿色、安全、经济效益等因素,设计、合成并筛选新型的高压电解液。本文介绍了传统碳酸酯电解液的现状以及在高压条件下被氧化的主要因素,综述了新型碳酸酯类、腈类、砜类以及离子液体类等高压电解液的研究进展。阐述了电解液高压条件下的作用效果及机理,为改善电解液稳定性、降低粘度、提高电导率及安全性能等方面的研究提出方向,为实现高压电解液的工业化奠定基础。     

High‐throughput microscale extraction using ionic liquids and derivatives: A review

Ionic liquids and derivatives—mainly polymeric ionic liquids and magnetic ionic liquids—have been extensively used in microscale extraction over the past few years. Current trends in analytical sample preparation gear toward linking microextraction approaches with high‐throughput sample processing to comply with green analytical chemistry requirements. A variety of high sample throughput strategies that are coupled to both ionic‐liquid‐based solid‐phase microextraction and ionic liquid‐based liquid‐phase microextraction are herein reported. The review is focused on microscale extraction methods that use (i) custom‐made and dedicated extraction devices, (ii) parallel extraction, (iii) magnetic‐based separation, and (iv) miniaturized systems employing semi‐automatic or fully automatic flow injection methods, related micro/millifluidic devices, and robotic equipment.     

Ionic liquids for the fractionation of microalgae biomass

Microalgae have emerged as one of the most promising sources of renewable biomass. However, considerable challenges must be addressed in order to improve the commercial outlook for the production of commodity chemicals. The largest challenge remains the energy intensive and consequently costly process of microalgae harvesting and drying. Ionic liquids have found a niche application in this area by allowing the extraction of lipids from wet biomass at low temperatures in less time than traditional lipid extraction methods. A number of recent studies have advanced the study of wet extraction of microalgae using ionic liquids and elucidated some of the limitations of this process. However, the most promising avenue for ionic liquid-based wet extraction lies in the fractionation and recovery of multiple biomass products such as lipids, carbohydrates, and carotenoids, in a single process.     

功能性离子液体在金属萃取分离中的研究进展

近年来,离子液体在金属萃取领域的研究受到广泛关注,主要集中在两个方面,一是疏水性离子液体作为“绿色”溶剂用于金属离子萃取;二是带有官能团的功能性离子液体作为萃取剂用于金属离子萃取,其中,后者是目前研究的热点。 本文主要对近年来功能性离子液体萃取分离放射性金属、重金属和稀土金属等研究进行综述,并对其未来发展进行了展望。     

Multi-Interactions in Ionic Liquids for Natural Product Extraction

Natural products with a variety of pharmacological effects are important sources for commercial drugs, and it is very crucial to develop effective techniques to selectively extract and isolate bioactive natural components from the plants against the background of sustainable development. Ionic liquids (ILs) are a kind of designable material with unique physicochemical properties, including good thermal stability, negligible vapor pressure, good solvation ability, etc. ILs have already been used in pharmaceuticals for extraction, purification, drug delivery, etc. It has been reported that multi-interactions, like hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions, play important roles in the extraction of bioactive components from the plants. In this review, recent progress in the understanding of scientific essence of hydrogen bonding, the special interaction, in ILs was summarized. The extraction of various natural products, one important area in pharmaceutical, by conventional and functional ILs as well as the specific roles of multi-interactions in this process were also reviewed. Moreover, problems existing in bioactive compound extraction by ILs and the future developing trends of this area are given, which might be helpful for scientists, especially beginners, in this field.     

Screening of ionic liquids for extraction of flavonoids from heather

Room temperature ionic liquids are novel solvents with the specific properties that makes them of interest for application for extraction for a wide range of compounds. In this work extraction efficiency of flavonoids from heather flowers using ionic liquids based on imidazolium cation were evaluated and compared with organic solvents. It was found that the anion of ionic liquid significantly influence the extraction yields. Flavonoid content as well as antioxidant activity based on radical scavenging on 1,1-diphenul-2-pirylhydrazyl radicals and cupric reducing antioxidant capacity increased in the order: [Bmim]PF₆ < [Bmim]BF₄ < [Bmim]Cl. The obtained extraction yield using [Bmim]Cl were higher than reported for 60% ethanol and ethyl acetate under similar conditions, thus, may be helpful for better utilization of heather flowers as the potential pharmaceutical and nutraceutical ingredients.     

Ionic liquids in sample preparation

Due to their unique properties, their good extractabilities for various target analytes, and the fact that many compounds are highly soluble in them, room-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) are used as promising alternatives to the traditional organic solvents employed in sample preparation. ILs have been used as extraction solvents for a wide range of analytes, from environmental contaminates to biomacromolecules and nanomaterials, and as dissolution solvents for various detection techniques. In this paper, the main applications of ILs in sample preparation are reviewed, and the problems and challenges in this area are described.     

Elucidation of the Roles of Ionic Liquid in CO2 Electrochemical Reduction to Value-Added Chemicals and Fuels

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂ER) is amongst one the most promising technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be converted to value-added products. Moreover, the possibility of using a renewable source of energy makes this process environmentally compelling. CO₂ER in ionic liquids (ILs) has recently attracted attention due to its unique properties in reducing overpotential and raising faradaic efficiency. The current literature on CO₂ER mainly reports on the effect of structures, physical and chemical interactions, acidity, and the electrode–electrolyte interface region on the reaction mechanism. However, in this work, new insights are presented for the CO₂ER reaction mechanism that are based on the molecular interactions of the ILs and their physicochemical properties. This new insight will open possibilities for the utilization of new types of ionic liquids. Additionally, the roles of anions, cations, and the electrodes in the CO₂ER reactions are also reviewed.     

燃油深度脱硫用离子液体研究进展

综述了离子液体萃取脱硫、萃取氧化脱硫以及催化氧化脱硫技术的国内外研究进展;阐述了离子液体在不同脱硫体系中的作用及再生问题;论述了离子液体催化氧化脱硫技术的优点,如:反应条件温和,脱硫效率高,操作简单,最有发展前景,可以作为加氢脱硫的补充,实现燃油的深度脱硫;并分析了离子液体脱硫技术存在的问题及其工业化应用前景.     

Commercialization of Ionic Liquids in Pursuit of Green Chemistry: Must we Each Become an Entrepreneur?

There will be common challenges to scaling-up any ionic liquids separations technologies which require very large volumes of ionic liquid. Some of these challenges are illustrated in this personal account which chronicles the extraction of chitin from shrimp shell from discovery to current commercialization efforts. The road being taken from discovery in an academic laboratory, through attempts to navigate the scaling-up to commercial scale using the vehicle of a faculty startup company is rewarding, but fraught with roadblocks, detours, and unexpected challenges. The differences in ‘technically feasible’ and ‘commercially viable’ are not always evident from the beginning of the journey, however, one wonders what achievements we miss as a Society because it was assumed to not be commercially viable.     

Application of Task-specific Ionic Liquids for Intensified Separations

Summary. Ionic liquids offer tremendous opportunities to intensify reactions and separations in process technologies by tuning their physical and chemical properties. Several ionic liquids are suitable for the separation of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. CO₂ absorption behavior was influenced by the functionalized chains appended to the room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) cation. Ionic liquids seem able to combine the chemical features of amine solutions with the characteristic advantages of the physical solvents used for CO₂ absorption.     

Lanthanide ion extraction by trifluoromethyl-1,3-diketonate-functionalised ionic liquids adsorbed on silica

While acetylacetone (acacH) derivatives are, upon deprotonation, ubiquitous ligands in coordination chemistry, their potential to form stable ionic liquids has not been studied so far. Here we describe a straightforward synthesis of novel trifluoroacetylacetone-functionalised imidazolium salts. These salts are built from an imidazolium ring substituted on one side with a flexible chain of fixed length carrying a terminal acacH group and on the opposite side a paraffin chain of various lengths. By changing the length of these flexible chains (n=4, 8, 12) and the nature of the counter-anions (PF(6)(-), BF(4)(-), NTf(2)(-)), room-temperature ionic liquids were produced. Their application for the extraction of lanthanide salts (Eu, Tb) from dilute aqueous solution has been investigated. The presence of a strong UV absorber (imidazolium ring, λ(abs)=290 nm) allows photosensitisation of the Eu(III) and Tb(III) luminescence by efficient energy transfer, and thus extraction of these two lanthanides can be followed by fluorescence techniques. It appears that loading of the ionic liquids onto silica particles pre-treated with a dilute aqueous solution of NaOH is the most efficient way to obtain fast and almost quantitative (>99.9%) extraction of the metal ions as their diketonato complexes. The procedure is reproducible and the loaded SiO(2) particles can be simply treated with acid to strip the metal ions and regenerate the adsorbed (protonated) extractant.     

超临界流体萃取分离离子液体与有机物及其相平衡的研究

离子液体具有一些优良的物理和化学性质,非常有希望成为传统有机溶剂的替代溶剂.但是如何从过程物流中分离和回收离子液体将是其工业化应用的一个很大挑战.蒸馏、液液萃取和超临界萃取是目前已知的三个可行的方法.其中超临界萃取可应用于离子液体与挥发的或相对不挥发的有机物的分离,而且不存在相间交叉污染.本文从二元体系相平衡、三元体系相平衡、模型化研究和萃取实验结果方面介绍了超临界萃取方法的最新研究进展,在此基础上提出了用超临界丙烷替代超临界二氧化碳作为萃取溶剂的新思路,并探讨了该领域今后的研究方向和工业化前景.     

New ionic liquids with tris(perfluoroalkyl)trifluorophosphate (FAP) anions

The synthesis of new ionic liquids with tris(perfluoroalkyl)trifluorophosphate (FAP) anions is described. The physico-chemical properties (conductivity, viscosity, electrochemical and thermal stability) of this new generation of ionic liquids (molten salts) are discussed. FAP-ionic liquids show an excellent hydrolytic stability, low viscosity and high electrochemical and thermal stability that makes them attractive for use in electrochemical devices and as a new media for application in modern technologies and chemical synthesis.     

Development of deep eutectic solvents applied in extraction and separation

Deep eutectic solvents, as an alternative to ionic liquids, have greener credentials than ionic liquids, and have attracted considerable attention in related chemical research. Deep eutectic solvents have attracted increasing attention in chemistry for the extraction and separation of various target compounds from natural products. This review highlights the preparation of deep eutectic solvents, unique properties of deep eutectic solvents, and synthesis of deep‐eutectic‐solvent‐based materials. On the other hand, application in the extraction and separation of deep eutectic solvents is also included in this report. In this paper, the available data and references in this field are reviewed to summarize the applications and developments of deep eutectic solvents. Based on the development of deep eutectic solvents, an exploitation of new deep eutectic solvents and deep eutectic solvents‐based materials is expected to diversify into extraction and separation.     

Application of ionic liquids based microwave-assisted simultaneous extraction of carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid and essential oil from Rosmarinus officinalis

An ionic liquid based microwave-assisted simultaneous extraction and distillation (ILMSED) method has been developed for the effective extraction of carnosic acid (CA), rosmarinic acid (RA) and essential oil (EO) from Rosmarinus officinalis. A series of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids differing in composition of anion and cation were evaluated for extraction yield in this work. The results obtained indicated that the anions and cations of ionic liquids had influences on the extraction of CA and RA, 1.0M 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([C8mim]Br) solution was selected as solvent. In addition, the ILMSED procedures for the three target ingredients were optimized and compared with other conventional extraction techniques. ILMSED gave the best result due to the highest extraction yield within the shortest extraction time for CA and RA. The novel process developed offered advantages in term of yield and selectivity of EO and shorter isolation time (20 min in comparison of 4h of hydrodistillation), and provides a more valuable EO (with high amount of oxygenated compounds). The microstructures and chemical structures of rosemary samples before and after extraction were also investigated. Moreover, the proposed method was validated by the stability, repeatability and recovery experiments. The results indicated that the developed ILMSED method provided a good alternative for the both extraction of non-volatile compounds (CA and RA) and EO from rosemary as well as other herbs.