abstract
Ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) have been the focus of a significant amount of research in the last decade. However, only (moderately) toxic and poorly biodegradable ionic liquids have been explored hitherto. Focusing on the development of more benign and sustainable approaches, a novel class of ABS using cholinium-based ionic liquids is proposed. For the first time, it is shown that a large assortment of cholinium-based ionic liquids is capable of undergoing liquid-liquid demixing in the presence of aqueous solutions with strong salting-out species. In order to assess the applicability of these systems for separation purposes, the partitioning of two antibiotics and/or their hydrochloride forms was also investigated. Cholinium-based ABS are shown to be improved routes for the extraction of pharmaceuticals, achieving complete extractions in a single-step by way of the proper tailoring of the phase forming components and their concentrations in the aqueous media.
keywords
2-PHASE SYSTEMS; POLY(ETHYLENE GLYCOL); HYDROCHLORIDE FORMS; MUTUAL SOLUBILITIES; PHASE-BEHAVIOR; WATER; ANTIBIOTICS; EXTRACTION; TETRACYCLINE; MIXTURES
subject category
Chemistry
authors
Shahriari, S; Tome, LC; Araujo, JMM; Rebelo, LPN; Coutinho, JAP; Marrucho, IM; Freire, MG
our authors
Isabel Maria Delgado Jana Marrucho Ferreira
Full professor
Liliana C. Tomé
PhD Student
Mara Guadalupe Freire Martins
Coordinating ResearcherGroups
G4 - Renewable Materials and Circular Economy
G5 - Biomimetic, Biological and Living Materials
Projects
acknowledgements
This work was financed by national funding from FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, through projects PTDC/QUI-QUI/121520/2010 and Pest-C/CTM/LA0011/2011. The authors also acknowledge FCT for the PhD grant SFRH/BD/72830/2010 of L. C. Tome and for the post-doctoral grants SFRH/BPD/41781/2007 and SFRH/BPD/65981/2009 of M. G. Freire and J.M.M. Araujo.