Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology (GUT), 11/12 G. Narutowicza St., 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland.
Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vigo, Campus As Lagoas - Marcosende s/n, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2019 Jun 15;174:455-458. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.03.014. Epub 2019 Mar 7.
Due to various desirable physicochemical properties, ionic liquids (ILs) are still gaining in popularity. ILs have been recurrently considered green solvents. However, environmental, health and safety assessments of ILs have raised certain doubts about their benignness, and their greenness status is currently unclear. To clarify the situation on their greenness, we perform a comprehensive assessment of more than 300 commercially available ILs. We apply multicriteria decision analysis, the tool that allows ranking many alternatives according to relevant criteria. They are toxicity towards various organisms, biodegradability, hazard statements and precautionary measures during their handling. We incorporated organic solvents to rankings, as their greenness is better described, so they serve as greenness reference points. The ranking results obtained considering the whole set of criteria show that ILs are placed between recommended polar solvents and problematic/undesirable non polar organic solvents in terms of greenness. However, the exclusion of toxicity data due to unavailability of endpoints results in assessment of ILs as greener than most of organic solvents.
由于具有各种理想的物理化学性质，离子液体（ILs）越来越受欢迎。ILs 一直被认为是绿色溶剂。然而，对 ILs 的环境、健康和安全评估对其良性提出了一些质疑，其绿色状态目前尚不清楚。为了澄清其绿色性，我们对 300 多种市售 ILs 进行了全面评估。我们应用多标准决策分析，该工具允许根据相关标准对多个替代品进行排名。这些标准包括对各种生物体的毒性、生物降解性、危害说明以及在处理过程中的预防措施。我们将有机溶剂纳入排名，因为它们的绿色性更容易描述，因此它们可以作为绿色性的参考点。考虑到所有标准得出的排名结果表明，ILs 在绿色性方面介于推荐的极性溶剂和有问题/不理想的非极性有机溶剂之间。然而，由于终点不可用而排除毒性数据会导致对 ILs 的评估结果比大多数有机溶剂更环保。
