Department of Bioenergy Science and Technology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea.
Faculty of Biotechnology, HoChiMihn University of Food Industry, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 10;786:147309. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147309. Epub 2021 Apr 30.
Interest in ionic liquids (ILs), called green or designer solvents, has been increasing because of their excellent properties such as thermal stability and low vapor pressure; thus, they can replace harmful organic chemicals and help several industrial fields e.g., energy-storage materials production and biomaterial pretreatment. However, the claim that ILs are green solvents should be carefully considered from an environmental perspective. ILs, given their minimal vapor pressure, may not directly cause atmospheric pollution. However, they have the potential to cause adverse effects if leaked into the environment, for instance if they are spilled due to human mistakes or technical errors. To estimate the risks of ILs, numerous ILs have had their toxicity assessed toward several micro- and macro-organisms over the past few decades. Since the toxic effects of ILs depend on the method of estimating toxicity, it is necessary to briefly summarize and comprehensively discuss the biological effects of ILs according to their structure and toxicity testing levels. This can help simplify our understanding of the toxicity of ILs. Therefore, in this review, we discuss the key findings of toxicological information of ILs, collect some toxicity data of ILs to different species, and explain the influence of IL structure on their toxic properties. In the discussion, we estimated two different sensitivity values of toxicity testing levels depending on the experiment condition, which are theoretical magnitudes of the inherent sensitivity of toxicity testing levels in various conditions and their changes in biological response according to the change in IL structure. Finally, some perspectives, future research directions, and limitations to toxicological research of ILs, presented so far, are discussed.
人们对离子液体（ILs）的兴趣越来越浓厚，因其具有热稳定性和低蒸气压等优异性能，被称为绿色或设计溶剂，可替代有害的有机化学品，有助于多个工业领域，如储能材料生产和生物材料预处理。然而，从环境角度来看，应谨慎考虑将 ILs 称为绿色溶剂的说法。由于 ILs 的蒸气压极低，它们可能不会直接造成大气污染。但是，如果它们泄漏到环境中，例如由于人为错误或技术错误而溢出，就有可能造成不良影响。为了评估 ILs 的风险，在过去几十年中，已经对许多 ILs 对几种微生物和宏观生物的毒性进行了评估。由于 ILs 的毒性效应取决于毒性评估方法，因此有必要根据其结构和毒性测试水平，简要总结和全面讨论 ILs 的生物效应。这有助于简化我们对 ILs 毒性的理解。因此，在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 ILs 毒理学信息的关键发现，收集了一些 ILs 对不同物种的毒性数据，并解释了 IL 结构对其毒性特性的影响。在讨论中，我们根据实验条件估计了毒性测试水平的两个不同的敏感性值，这两个值分别是各种条件下毒性测试水平固有敏感性的理论值以及根据 IL 结构变化对生物反应的影响。最后，讨论了迄今为止 ILs 毒理学研究的一些观点、未来研究方向和局限性。
