Synthesizing and Characterization of Amino Acid Based Ionic Liquids for Pharmaceutical Applications

There has been a growing attention towards amino acid based ionic liquids
(AAILs) since the past decade. Synthesizing ionic liquids (ILs) from renewable
biomaterials is a promising method to improve the biocompatibility and biodegradability
of ionic liquids. In this project, 10 choline based ILs were synthesized with different
amino acids and tested towards gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria to show the
relationship between the anion structure and the degree of toxicity. All the AAILs
demonstrated a high biocompatibility towards the tested bacteria and their toxicity
decreased by smaller molecular size of anion. Additionally, biodegradability of the
synthesized AAILs were assessed via the method of closed bottle test employing river
water microorganisms and it turned out that all the AAILs had over 60% biodegradation
which classifies them as “readily biodegradable”. Longer chain length and presence of
functional groups in the structure of anion directly affected the molecular breakdown by
microbial activities.