Continuous green biocatalytic processes using ionic liquids and supercritical carbon dioxide

Ionic Liquids in Metal, Photo-, Electro-, and (Bio) Catalysis

Ionic liquids (ILs) have unique physicochemical properties that make them advantageous for catalysis, such as low vapor pressure, non-flammability, high thermal and chemical stabilities, and the ability to enhance the activity and stability of (bio)catalysts. ILs can improve the efficiency, selectivity, and sustainability of bio(transformations) by acting as activators of enzymes, selectively dissolving substrates and products, and reducing toxicity. They can also be recycled and reused multiple times without losing their effectiveness. ILs based on imidazolium cation are preferred for structural organization aspects, with a semiorganized layer surrounding the catalyst. ILs act as a container, providing a confined space that allows modulation of electronic and geometric effects, miscibility of reactants and products, and residence time of species. ILs can stabilize ionic and radical species and control the catalytic activity of dynamic processes. Supported IL phase (SILP) derivatives and polymeric ILs (PILs) are good options for molecular engineering of greener catalytic processes. The major factors governing metal, photo-, electro-, and biocatalysts in ILs are discussed in detail based on the vast literature available over the past two and a half decades. Catalytic reactions, ranging from hydrogenation and cross-coupling to oxidations, promoted by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in both single and multiphase conditions, are extensively reviewed and discussed considering the knowledge accumulated until now.

Silica-Based Supported Ionic Liquid-like Phases as Heterogeneous Catalysts

Supported ionic liquid phases offer several advantages related with catalysis. Immobilization of ionic liquid on the solid support provides catalytic activity or efficient matrix for active phases, as enzymes or metal compounds. Ionic liquid can be physically adsorbed on the carrier (supported ionic liquid phase) or chemically grafted to the material surface (supported ionic liquid-like phase). The use of supported ionic liquid phases improves mass transport, reduces ionic amount in the process and, most importantly, enables effortless catalyst separation and recycling. Moreover, chemical modification of the surface material with ionic liquid prevents its leaching, enhancing length of catalyst life. Silica-based materials have become an effective and powerful matrix for supported ionic liquid-like phase due to its cost-efficiency, presence of hydroxyl groups on the surface enabling its functionalization, and specific material properties, such as the size and shapes of the pores. For these reasons, supported ionic liquid-like phase silica-based materials are successfully used in the organic catalysis.

Stabilization of enzymes via immobilization: Multipoint covalent attachment and other stabilization strategies

The use of enzymes in industrial processes requires the improvement of their features in many instances. Enzyme immobilization, a requirement to facilitate the recovery and reuse of these water-soluble catalysts, is one of the tools that researchers may utilize to improve many of their properties. This review is focused on how enzyme immobilization may improve enzyme stability. Starting from the stabilization effects that an enzyme may experience by the mere fact of being inside a solid particle, we detail other possibilities to stabilize enzymes: generation of favorable enzyme environments, prevention of enzyme subunit dissociation in multimeric enzymes, generation of more stable enzyme conformations, or enzyme rigidification via multipoint covalent attachment. In this last point, we will discuss the features of an "ideal" immobilization protocol to maximize the intensity of the enzyme-support interactions. The most interesting active groups in the support (glutaraldehyde, epoxide, glyoxyl and vinyl sulfone) will be also presented, discussing their main properties and uses. Some instances in which the number of enzyme-support bonds is not directly related to a higher stabilization will be also presented. Finally, the possibility of coupling site-directed mutagenesis or chemical modification to get a more intense multipoint covalent immobilization will be discussed.

Ionic Liquids for Development of Heterogeneous Catalysts Based on Nanomaterials for Biocatalysis

The development of effective methods of enzyme stabilization is key for the evolution of biocatalytic processes. An interesting approach combines the stabilization process of proteins in ionic liquids and the immobilization of the active phase on the solid support. As a result, stable, active and heterogeneous biocatalysts are obtained. There are several benefits associated with heterogeneous processes, as easy separation of the biocatalyst from the reaction mixture and the possibility of recycling. Accordingly, this work focused on the supported ionic liquid phases as the efficient enzyme stabilization carriers, and their application in both continuous flow and batch biocatalytic processes.

Applications of Ionic Liquids in Whole-Cell and Isolated Enzyme Biocatalysis

Ionic liquids have unique chemical properties that have fascinated scientists in many fields. The effects of adding ionic liquids to biocatalysts are many and varied. The uses of ionic liquids in biocatalysis include improved separations and phase behaviour, reduction in toxicity, and stabilization of protein structures. As the ionic liquid state of the art has progressed, concepts of what can be achieved in biocatalysis using ionic liquids have evolved and more beneficial effects have been discovered. In this review ionic liquids for whole-cell and isolated enzyme biocatalysis will be discussed with an emphasis on the latest developments, and a look to the future.

When graphene meets ionic liquids: a good match for the design of functional materials

Graphene is an attractive material that is characterized by its exceptional properties (i.e. electrical, mechanical, thermal, optical, etc.), which have pushed researchers to attach high interest to its production and functionalization processes to meet applications in different fields (electronics, electromagnetics, composites, sensors, energy storage, etc.). The synthesis (bottom-up) of graphene remains long and laborious, at the same time expensive, and it is limited to the development of this material in low yield. Hence, the use of graphite as a starting material (top-down through exfoliation or oxidation) seems a promising and easy technique for producing a large quantity of graphene or graphene oxide (GO). On the one hand, GO has been extensively studied due to its ease of synthesis, processing and chemical post-functionalization. One the other hand, "pristine" graphene sheets, obtained through exfoliation, are limited in processability but present enhanced electronic properties. Both types of materials have been of great interest to design functional nanomaterials. Ionic liquids (ILs) are task-specific solvents that exhibit tunable physico-chemical properties. ILs have many advantages as compared with conventional solvents, such as high thermal and chemical stability, low volatility, excellent conductivity and inherent polarity. In the last decade, ILs have been widely employed for the preparation and stabilization of various nanomaterials. In particular, the combination of ILs and graphene, including GO and pristine graphene sheets, has been of growing interest for the preparation, processing and functionalization of hybrid nanomaterials. Understanding the structure and properties of the graphene/IL interface has been of considerable interest for a large panel of applications ranging from tribology to energy storage.

Ionic liquids for regulating biocatalytic process: Achievements and perspectives

Biocatalysis has found enormous applications in sorts of fields as an alternative to chemical catalysis. In the pursue of green and sustainable chemistry, ionic liquids (ILs) have been considered as promising reaction media for biocatalysis, owing to their unique characteristics, such as nonvolatility, inflammability and tunable properties as regards polarity and water miscibility behavior, compared to organic solvents. In recent years, great developments have been achieved in respects to biocatalysis in ILs, especially for preparing various chemicals. This review tends to give illustrative examples with a focus on representative chemicals production by biocatalyst in ILs and elucidate the possible mechanism in such systems. It also discusses how to regulate the catalytic efficiency from several aspects and finally provides an outlook on the opportunities to broaden biocatalysis in ILs.

Multi-Combilipases: Co-Immobilizing Lipases with Very Different Stabilities Combining Immobilization via Interfacial Activation and Ion Exchange. The Reuse of the Most Stable Co-Immobilized Enzymes after Inactivation of the Least Stable Ones

The lipases A and B from Candida antarctica (CALA and CALB), Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL) or Rhizomucor miehei (RML), and the commercial and artificial phospholipase Lecitase ultra (LEU) may be co-immobilized on octyl agarose beads. However, LEU and RML became almost fully inactivated under conditions where CALA, CALB and TLL retained full activity. This means that, to have a five components co-immobilized combi-lipase, we should discard 3 fully active and immobilized enzymes when the other two enzymes are inactivated. To solve this situation, CALA, CALB and TLL have been co-immobilized on octyl-vinyl sulfone agarose beads, coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) and the least stable enzymes, RML and LEU have been co-immobilized over these immobilized enzymes. The coating with PEI is even favorable for the activity of the immobilized enzymes. It was checked that RML and LEU could be released from the enzyme-PEI coated biocatalyst, although this also produced some release of the PEI. That way, a protocol was developed to co-immobilize the five enzymes, in a way that the most stable could be reused after the inactivation of the least stable ones. After RML and LEU inactivation, the combi-biocatalysts were incubated in 0.5 M of ammonium sulfate to release the inactivated enzymes, incubated again with PEI and a new RML and LEU batch could be immobilized, maintaining the activity of the three most stable enzymes for at least five cycles of incubation at pH 7.0 and 60 °C for 3 h, incubation on ammonium sulfate, incubation in PEI and co-immobilization of new enzymes. The effect of the order of co-immobilization of the different enzymes on the co-immobilized biocatalyst activity was also investigated using different substrates, finding that when the most active enzyme versus one substrate was immobilized first (nearer to the surface of the particle), the activity was higher than when this enzyme was co-immobilized last (nearer to the particle core).

Solubility predictions through LSBoost for supercritical carbon dioxide in ionic liquids

The LSBoost model is developed to predict the solubility of supercritical carbon dioxide in 24 ionic liquids by using critical properties and biphasic system parameters as descriptors. The model is highly accurate and stable.

Biocatalysis engineering: the big picture

In this tutorial review we describe a holistic approach to the invention, development and optimisation of biotransformations utilising isolated enzymes. Increasing attention to applied biocatalysis is motivated by its numerous economic and environmental benefits. Biocatalysis engineering concerns the development of enzymatic systems as a whole, which entails engineering its different components: substrate engineering, medium engineering, protein (enzyme) engineering, biocatalyst (formulation) engineering, biocatalytic cascade engineering and reactor engineering.

Supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) facilitated gas-phase enzyme catalysis – CALB catalyzed transesterification of vinyl propionate

The supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) technology has been used to immobilize Candida Antarctica Lipase B (CALB) within a hybrid monolith.

Confined naked gold nanoparticles in ionic liquid films

Surface-clean Au nanoparticles (NPs) confined in films of ionic liquids (ILs) can be easily fabricated by sputtering deposition. A silicon wafer coated with films of both hydrophobic (bis((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)amide, NTf₂^-) and hydrophilic (tetrafluoroborate, BF₄^-) imidazolium-based ILs forms an 'ionic carpet-like' structure that can be easily decorated with Au NPs of 5.1 and 6.5 nm mean diameter, respectively. The depth profile distribution of the Au NPs depends on the arrangement of the IL, which is controlled mainly by the anion volume. Higher concentrations of Au NPs are found closer to the IL surface for the system containing a larger anion (NTf₂) whereas Au NPs are located deeper in the IL for the system containing a smaller anion (BF₄). The Au NPs are well distributed over the IL/Si support and are strictly confined in a single layer of the IL. This method is among the most simple and versatile for the generation of liquid layers containing surface-clean, stable and confined Au NPs.

Lipase-catalyzed enantioselective transesterification of prochiral 1-((1,3-dihydroxypropan-2-yloxy)methyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-dione in ionic liquids

The application of ionic liquids as solvents for transesterification of prochiral pirymidine acyclonucleoside using lipase (EC 3.1.1.3) Amano PS from Burkholderia cepacia (BCL) is reported. The effect of using medium reaction, acyl group donor, and temperature on the activity and enantioselectivity of BCL was studied. From the investigated ionic solvents, the hydrophobic ionic liquid [BMIM]PF₆ ] was the preferred medium for enzymatic reactions. However, the best result was obtained in the mixture [BMIM][PF₆ ]:TBME (1:1 v/v) at 50°C. Enzyme activity and selectivity in [BMIM][PF₆ ]:TBME (1:1 v/v) was slightly higher in than in conventional organic solvents (for example, TBME), and in this condition, good activity and enantioselectivity were associated with unique properties of ionic liquid such as hydrophobicity and high polarity. Independently of solvents, monester of (R)-configuration was obtained in excess. Under optimal conditions, desymmetrization of the prochiral compound using different acyl donors was performed. If vinyl butyrate was used as the acylating agent, BCL completely selectively acylated enantiotopic hydroxyl groups.

Solvation Structure of Imidazolium Cation in Mixtures of [C4mim][TFSA] Ionic Liquid and Diglyme by NMR Measurements and MD Simulations

Interactions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation ([C₄mim]⁺) with bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide anion ([TFSA]^-) and diethyleneglycol dimethyl ether (diglyme) in mixtures of [C₄mim][TFSA] ionic liquid and diglyme have been investigated using ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results of NMR chemical shift measurements and MD simulations showed that the diglyme oxygen atoms have contact with the imidazolium hydrogen atoms of [C₄mim]⁺ in the mixtures. The contact between the hydrogen atoms of imidazolium and the oxygen atoms of [TFSA]^- remains even when the diglyme mole fraction (x_diglyme) increases up to 0.9. However, the coordination numbers of the hydrogen atoms of [C₄mim]⁺ with oxygen atoms of diglyme increase with x_diglyme. The [TFSA]^- anions around [C₄mim]⁺ are not completely replaced by diglyme even at x_diglyme > 0.9. The MD simulations revealed that the diglymes also have contact with the butyl group of [C₄mim]⁺. The methyl groups of diglyme prefer to have contact with the terminal methyl group of the butyl group, whereas the diglyme oxygen atoms prefer to have contact with the methylene group connected to the imidazolium ring of [C₄mim]⁺.

Highly Productive and Enantioselective Enzyme Catalysis under Continuous Supported Liquid-Liquid Conditions Using a Hybrid Monolithic Bioreactor

Enzyme-containing ionic liquids (ILs) were immobilized in cellulose-2.5-acetate microbeads particles embedded in a porous monolithic polyurethane matrix. This bioreactor was used under continuous liquid-liquid conditions by dissolving the substrates in a nonpolar organic phase immiscible with the ILs, thereby creating a biphasic system. Lipases (candida antarctica lipase B, CALB, candida rugosa lipase, CRL) were used to catalyze the enantioselective transesterification of racemic (R,S)-1-phenylethanol with vinyl butyrate and vinyl acetate, the esterification of (+/-)-2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexanol with propionic anhydride and the amidation of (R,S)-1-phenylethylamine with ethyl methoxyacetate. With this unique setup, very high productivities, that is, turnover numbers (TONs) up to 5.1×10⁶ and space-time yields (STYs) up to 28 g product L^-1  h^-1 , exceeding the corresponding values for batch-type reactions by a factor of 3100 and 40, respectively, were achieved while maintaining or even enhancing enantioselectivity compared to batch reactions via kinetic resolution. To our best knowledge, this is the first continuously operated bioreactor using supported liquid-liquid conditions that shows these features in the synthesis of chiral esters and amides.

Ionic Liquid Crystals: Versatile Materials

This Review covers the recent developments (2005-2015) in the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of thermotropic ionic liquid crystals. It was designed to give a comprehensive overview of the "state-of-the-art" in the field. The discussion is focused on low molar mass and dendrimeric thermotropic ionic mesogens, as well as selected metal-containing compounds (metallomesogens), but some references to polymeric and/or lyotropic ionic liquid crystals and particularly to ionic liquids will also be provided. Although zwitterionic and mesoionic mesogens are also treated to some extent, emphasis will be directed toward liquid-crystalline materials consisting of organic cations and organic/inorganic anions that are not covalently bound but interact via electrostatic and other noncovalent interactions.

Confined water in imidazolium based ionic liquids: a supramolecular guest@host complex case

Traces of water in some ionic liquids can be regarded as a guest@host supramolecular structure even when diluted in solvents with high dielectric constants.

One-pot synthesis of (R)-2-acetoxy-1-indanone from 1,2-indanedione combining metal catalyzed hydrogenation and chemoenzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution

A heterogeneously catalyzed one-pot reaction for synthesis of (R)-2-acetoxy-1-indanone is described.

Active biopolymers in green non-conventional media: a sustainable tool for developing clean chemical processes

By understanding structure–function relationships of active biopolymers (e.g. enzymes and nucleic acids) in green non-conventional media, sustainable chemical processes may be developed.

Formal redox potentials of organic molecules in ionic liquids on the basis of quaternary nitrogen cations as adiabatic electron affinities

Formal redox potentials E°' involving neutral species R and radical anions R(•-) in ionic liquids (ILs) composed of ammonium, pyridinium, and imidazolium cations are discussed from the point of view of the adiabatic electron affinity as a molecular property. The dependence of the 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ)/BQ(•-) redox process in CH2Cl2 and CH3CN is primarily investigated over a wide concentration range of ILs as the supporting electrolyte. A logarithmic relationship involving a positive shift of E°' with increasing concentration is obtained when the concentration is changed from 0.01 to 1.0 M. The relationship of E°' at IL concentrations greater than 1.0 M gradually reaches a plateau and remains there even for the neat ILs. It is found that the E°' values in the neat ILs are not influenced by the measurement conditions, and that they remain considerably dependent on the nature and concentration of the electrolyte when measured using the traditional method involving molecular solvents combined with a supporting electrolyte (0.1-0.5 M). The difference in the E°' values observed in the ammonium and pyridinium ILs is only several millivolts. In addition, ESR and self-consistent isodensity polarized continuum model calculation results reveal that the potential shift toward positive values upon the transition from molecular solvents containing ILs to neat ILs is adequately accounted for by changes in the electrostatic interaction of R(•-) taken into the cavity composed of the solvent and IL. On the other hand, the first reduction waves of quinones, electron-accepting molecules, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons are reversibly or quasi-reversibly observed in the ILs. The electrochemical stability of the ILs is exploited in the facile measurement of these quasi-reversible waves at quite negative potentials, such as for the naphthalene (NP)/NP(•-) couple. Notably, the E°' values obtained in the ammonium ILs correlate well with the calculated standard redox potentials and are linearly fitted with high correlation over all classes of compounds using a single regression equation based on Koopmans' theorem.

Efficient and selective chemical transformations under flow conditions: The combination of supported catalysts and supercritical fluids

This paper reviews the current trends in the combined use of supported catalytic systems, either on solid supports or in liquid phases and supercritical fluids (scFs), to develop selective and enantioselective chemical transformations under continuous and semi-continuous flow conditions. The results presented have been selected to highlight how the combined use of those two elements can contribute to: (i) Significant improvements in productivity as a result of the enhanced diffusion of substrates and reagents through the interfaces favored by the scF phase; (ii) the long term stability of the catalytic systems, which also contributes to the improvement of the final productivity, as the use of an appropriate immobilization strategy facilitates catalyst isolation and reuse; (iii) the development of highly efficient selective or, when applicable, enantioselective chemical transformations. Although the examples reported in the literature and considered in this review are currently confined to a limited number of fields, a significant development in this area can be envisaged for the near future due to the clear advantages of these systems over the conventional ones.

Organic aqueous tunable solvents (OATS): a vehicle for coupling reactions and separations

In laboratory-based chemical synthesis, the choice of the solvent and the means of product purification are rarely determined by cost or environmental impact considerations. When a reaction is scaled up for industrial applications, however, these choices are critical: the separation of product from the solvent, starting materials, and byproduct usually constitutes 60-80% of the overall cost of a process. In response, researchers have developed solvents and solvent-handling methods to optimize both the reaction and the subsequent separation steps on the manufacturing scale. These include "switchable" solvents, which are designed so that their physical properties can be changed abruptly, as well as "tunable" solvents, wherein the solvent's properties change continuously through the application of an external stimulus. In this Account, we describe the organic aqueous tunable solvent (OATS) system, examining two instructive and successful areas of application of OATS as well as its clear potential for further refinement. OATS systems address the limitations of biphasic processes by optimizing reactions and separations simultaneously. The reaction is performed homogeneously in a miscible aqueous-organic solvent mixture, such as water-tetrahydrofuran (THF). The efficient product separation is conducted heterogeneously by the simple addition of modest pressures of CO(2) (50-60 bar) to the system. Under these conditions, the water-THF phase splits into two relatively immiscible phases: the organic THF phase contains the hydrophobic product, and the aqueous phase contains the hydrophilic catalyst. We take advantage of the unique properties of OATS to develop environmentally benign and cost-competitive processes relevant in industrial applications. Specifically, we describe the use of OATS for optimizing the reaction, separation, design, and recycling of (i) Rh-catalyzed hydroformylation of olefins such as 1-octene and (ii) enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of 2-phenylacetate. We discuss the advantages of these OATS systems over more traditional processes. We also consider future directions that can be taken with these proven systems as well as related innovations that have recently been reported, including the use of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a tunable adjunct in the solvent and the substitution of propane for CO(2) as the external stimulus. OATS systems in fact represent the ultimate goal for a sustainable process, because in an idealized setup there is only reactant coming in and product going out; in principle, there is no waste stream.