Rapid esterification of fatty acid using dicationic acidic ionic liquid catalyst via ultrasonic-assisted method

Biodiesel production via esterification/transesterification reactions can be catalyzed by homogenous or heterogeneous catalysts. Development of heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production is highly advantageous due to the ease of product purification and of catalyst recyclability. In this current work, a novel acidic [DABCODBS][CF₃SO₃]₂ dicationic ionic liquid (DIL) was used as heterogeneous catalyst to produce biodiesel using oleic acid as model oil. The esterification was conducted under ultrasonic irradiation (20 kHz) using a 14 mm ultrasonic horn transducer operated at various duty cycles. It was observed that the duty cycle, amplitude, methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst amount and reaction temperature were the major factors that greatly impact the necessary reaction time to lead to a high yield of biodiesel. The reaction conditions were optimized with the aid of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) designed according to the Quadratic model of the Box Behnken method. The optimum conditions were found to be at catalyst amount of 0.64 mol%, methanol to oil ratio of 14.3:1, temperature of 59 °C, reaction time of 83 min and amplitude of 60% in continuous mode. The results showed that the oleic acid was successfully converted into esters with conversion value of 93.20% together with significant reduction of reaction time from 7 h (using mechanical stirring) to 83 min (using ultrasonication). The results also showed that the acidic DIL catalyst we designed purposely was efficient to catalyze the ultrasonic-assisted esterification yielding high conversion of oleic acid to methyl oleate on short times. The DIL was also recycled and reused for at least five times without significant reduction in performance. Overall, the procedureoffersadvantages including short reaction time, good yield, operational simplicity and environmentally benign characteristics.

Study of the antimicrobial activity of cyclic cation-based ionic liquids via experimental and group contribution QSAR model

Over the past decades, Ionic liquids (ILs) have gained considerable attention from the scientific community in reason of their versatility and performance in many fields. However, they nowadays remain mainly for laboratory scale use. The main barrier hampering their use in a larger scale is their questionable ecological toxicity. This study investigated the effect of hydrophobic and hydrophilic cyclic cation-based ILs against four pathogenic bacteria that infect humans. For that, cations, either of aromatic character (imidazolium or pyridinium) or of non-aromatic nature, (pyrrolidinium or piperidinium), were selected with different alkyl chain lengths and combined with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic anionic moieties. The results clearly demonstrated that introducing of hydrophobic anion namely bis((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)amide, [NTF₂] and the elongation of the cations substitutions dramatically affect ILs toxicity behaviour. The established toxicity data [50% effective concentration (EC₅₀)] along with similar endpoint collected from previous work against Aeromonas hydrophila were combined to developed quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model for toxicity prediction. The model was developed and validated in the light of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines strategy, producing good correlation coefficient R² of 0.904 and small mean square error (MSE) of 0.095. The reliability of the QSAR model was further determined using k-fold cross validation.

Development of QSAR model to predict the ecotoxicity of Vibrio fischeri using COSMO-RS descriptors

Ionic liquids (ILs) are class of solvent whose properties can be modified and tuned to meet industrial requirements. However, a high number of potentially available cations and anions leads to an even increasing members of newly-synthesized ionic liquids, adding to the complexity of understanding on their impact on aquatic organisms. Quantitative structure activity∖property relationship (QSAR∖QSPR) technique has been proven to be a useful method for toxicity prediction. In this work,σ-profile descriptors were used to build linear and non-linear QSAR models to predict the ecotoxicities of a wide variety of ILs towards bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Linear model was constructed using five descriptors resulting in high accuracy prediction of 0.906. The model performance and stability were ascertained using k-fold cross validation method. The selected descriptors set from the linear model was then used in multilayer perceptron (MLP) technique to develop the non-linear model, the accuracy of the model was further enhanced achieving high correlation coefficient with the lowest value being 0.961 with the highest mean square error of 0.157.

Effect of imidazolium-based ionic liquids on bacterial growth inhibition investigated via experimental and QSAR modelling studies

Tuning the characteristics of solvents to fit industrial requirements has currently become a major interest in both academic and industrial communities, notably in the field of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), which are considered one of the most promising green alternatives to molecular organic solvents. In this work, several sets of imidazolium-based ionic liquids were synthesized, and their toxicities were assessed towards four human pathogens bacteria to investigate how tunability can affect this characteristic. Additionally, the toxicity of particular RTILs bearing an amino acid anion was introduced in this work. EC50 values (50% effective concentration) were established, and significant variations were observed; although all studied ILs displayed an imidazolium moiety, the toxicity values were found to vary between 0.05 mM for the most toxic to 85.57 mM for the least toxic. Linear quantitative structure activity relationship models were then developed using the charge density distribution (σ-profiles) as molecular descriptors, which can yield accuracies as high as 95%.

Extraction and characterization of lignin from oil palm biomass via ionic liquid dissolution and non-toxic aluminium potassium sulfate dodecahydrate precipitation processes

The objective of this study is to extract and characterize lignin from oil palm biomass (OPB) by dissolution in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([bmim][Cl]), followed by the lignin extraction through the CO2 gas purging prior to addition of aluminum potassium sulfate dodecahydrate (AlK(SO4)2 · 12H2O). The lignin yield, Y(L) (%wt.) was found to be dependent of the types of OPB observed for all precipitation methods used. The lignin recovery, RL (%wt.) obtained from CO2-AlK(SO4)2 · 12H2O precipitation was, however dependent on the types of OPB, which contradicted to that of the acidified H2SO4 and HCl solutions of pH 0.7 and 2 precipitations. Only about 54% of lignin was recovered from the OPB. The FTIR results indicate that the monodispersed lignin was successfully extracted from the OPT, OPF and OPEFB having a molecular weight (MW) of 1331, 1263 and 1473 g/mol, and degradation temperature of 215, 207.5 and 272 °C, respectively.

Development of a novel mathematical model using a group contribution method for prediction of ionic liquid toxicities

A new mathematical model has been developed that expresses the toxicities (EC₅₀ values) of a wide variety of ionic liquids (ILs) towards the freshwater flea Daphnia magna by means of a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR). The data were analyzed using summed contributions from the cations, their alkyl substituents and anions. The model employed multiple linear regression analysis with polynomial model using the MATLAB software. The model predicted IL toxicities with R²=0.974 and standard error of estimate of 0.028. This model affords a practical, cost-effective and convenient alternative to experimental ecotoxicological assessment of many ILs.

Dissolution and delignification of bamboo biomass using amino acid-based ionic liquid

In the present work, the dissolution of bamboo biomass was tested using a number of ionic liquids synthesized in laboratory. It was observed that one of the synthesized amino acid-based ionic liquids, namely 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium glycinate, was capable of dissolving the biomass completely. The dissolved biomass was then regenerated using a reconstitute solvent (acetone/water) and was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The results were compared to preconditioned bamboo biomass. The regenerated biomass was found to have a more homogenous macrostructure, which indicates that the crystalline form and structure of its cellulose has changed from type Ι to type ΙΙ during the dissolution and regeneration process.