Toxicity and antimicrobial activity of imidazolium and pyridinium ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) are novel organic salts with a wide liquid range that have enormous potential for industrial use as “green” chemicals. Varying the cationic and anionic components can alter IL properties and toxicities. Before the likely industrial release of ILs into the environment, it is necessary to determine their toxic and antimicrobial properties. As a measure of microbial toxicity of imidazolium and pyridinium ILs with varying alkyl chain lengths, we investigated Vibrio fischeri using the Microtox method. An increase in alkyl group chain length as well as an increase in the number of alkyl groups substituted on the cation ring corresponded with an increase in toxicity. Varying the anion identity did…