Understanding the Thermophysical and Solvent Properties of Lipid-Inspired Ionic Liquids

这种新型离子液体（ILs）有可能创造一种新的、快速的分离生物分子（如蛋白质）的方法，比色谱法和其他成熟的方法更快。这也是一项重大进展，因为新的离子液体将为研究离子液体中的酶催化反应提供一个平台，并可作为细胞膜热力学和运输过程的模型系统。这些新工业的发展可能导致更环保和经济的过程。智力优势：离子液体（ILs）是一种有机盐，是温度低于100°C的液体。它们是一类独特的化合物，本质上是非挥发性的，具有高度可调的性质。正如人们所预料的那样，离子液体通常表现出与极性分子溶剂相同的溶剂特性，容易溶解中等极性和极性溶质（类溶质），但通常是非极性化合物的不良溶剂。这限制了il在涉及非极性化合物的化学反应和分离过程中的适用性，包括生物来源的化合物，如脂肪酸和胆固醇。我们已经开发了一种新的含有长烷基链的il，加入了非极性溶剂性质，保持室温液体。通常，由于长链产生的增强的相互作用，具有长烷基链的il在室温下保持固体状态；然而，我们最近的工作已经克服了这个问题。我们通过从生物系统中获取线索来实现这一目标，即某些生物体在较冷的温度下通过磷脂烷基链中的不饱和来调节膜流动性的方式。像这些离子液体一样，磷脂是带有长烷基链的带电物质。在这项工作中，我们建议研究这些il作为纯组分和与非极性溶质的二元混合物中的热物理行为，以研究它们如何在化学和制药工业的分离过程中使用。在最近发表的一篇文章中已经证明了这一现象，我们现在建议研究一组扩展的非极性室温离子液体的热物理性质，并研究整个类的溶剂和溶液的热力学性质。我们假设，在保持低熔点的情况下，加入这些长非极性烷基链，将产生能够表现出非极性类溶剂性质的il，并有可能根据液体中存在的非极性结构域的大小和形状分离非极性溶质。这种离子液体将为新的研究领域打开大门，包括涉及非极性分子的更环保和经济的过程，这些过程目前由于溶解度的限制而不可能实现。此外，我们预计这些离子液体将为研究人员在离子液体中研究更广泛的酶催化反应提供一个平台，它们可能作为细胞膜热力学和运输过程的优秀模型系统。在南阿拉巴马大学，我们率先开发了几种新型离子液体，包括Brønsted酸性离子液体和Lewis碱性离子液体，它们可以化学捕获二氧化碳，并已获得商业生产和销售许可。随着化学与生物分子工程系和化学系之间最近开始的合作，我们已经准备好将我们的研究推进到一个新的水平。更广泛的影响：与挥发性分子溶剂相比，ILs本质上是非挥发性的，因此这些新物种的开发将带来更环保的工艺。此外，这项工作在南阿拉巴马大学形成了一条新的研究路线，它源于化学与生物分子工程和化学之间的合作，并将加强这一方向的跨学科努力。将工程组件与当地的综合专业知识相结合，将使我们更具国际竞争力。此外，随着这些分子的充分表征，世界各地的研究人员将有机会获得一种新的、科学上丰富的资源，这是目前ILs所没有的。本科生和研究生将直接参与这项研究，并将受益于跨学科的培训，因为他们作为一个统一的团队工作。随着研究活动被纳入本科和研究生课程，该项目将被纳入教育学。由于美国大学是一所EPSCoR州立机构，为大墨西哥湾沿岸地区的许多学生提供服务，这些学生来自历史上代表性不足的群体，因此该项目将允许那些传统上没有机会接触到这种技术水平的学生积极参与研究。此外，这项工作的推广工作（YouTube视频和可下载的课堂内容）将有助于向K-12学生展示科学和工程的社会价值，并激励他们从事STEM相关领域的职业。

1133101WestIntroduction: This new class of Ionic Liquids (ILs) can potentially create a new, rapid means of separating biomolecules such as proteins that is faster than chromatography and other well established methods. This is also a major advance in that the new ILs should provide a platform to investigate enzyme catalyzed reactions in ionic liquids and should serve as model systems for cell membranes for thermodynamic and transport processes. The development of these new ILs could result in more environmentally benign and economical processes. Intellectual Merit: Ionic liquids (ILs) are organic salts, which are liquids at temperatures below 100°C. They are a unique class of compounds that are essentially non-volatile and have highly tunable properties. As one might expect, ionic liquids typically exhibit the same solvent characteristics as polar molecular solvents, readily dissolving moderately-polar and polar solutes (like-dissolves-like) but often being poor solvents for non-polar compounds. This limits the applicability of ILs for chemical reactions and separations processes that involve non-polar compounds, including those of biological origin such as fatty acids and cholesterol. We have developed a new class of ILs that contains long alkyl chains, incorporated to impart non-polar-like solvent properties, which remain room temperature liquids. Typically, ILs with long alkyl chains remain solids at room temperature due to the enhanced interactions created by the long chains; however, our recent work has overcome this problem. We accomplished this by taking cues from biological systems, i.e. the manner in which certain organisms regulate membrane fluidity in colder temperatures by including unsaturation in the alkyl chains of phospholipids. Like these ionic liquids, phospholipids are charged species with long alkyl chains. In this work we propose to study the thermophysical behavior of these ILs as pure components and in binary mixtures with non-polar solutes to examine how they may be used in separations processes in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Having demonstrated this phenomenon in a recent publication, we now propose to study the thermophysical properties of an expanded set of non-polar-like room temperature ionic liquids and to study the solvent and solution thermodynamic properties of the entire class of species. We hypothesize that incorporating these long non-polar alkyl chains, while maintaining low melting points, will result in ILs that can exhibit non-polar-like solvent properties and potentially have the capability to separate non-polar solutes based on the sizes and shapes of the non-polar domains present in the liquid. Such ionic liquids would open the door to new areas of research including more environmentally benign and economical processes involving non-polar molecules that are currently not possible due to solubility limitations. Additionally, we anticipate that these ionic liquids will provide a platform for researchers to investigate a broader class of enzyme catalyzed reactions in ionic liquids, and they may serve as excellent model systems for cell membranes for thermodynamic and transport processes. At the University of South Alabama, we have pioneered the development of several novel classes of ionic liquids including Brønsted acidic ILs and Lewis basic ILs that chemically capture CO2, which have been licensed for commercial production and sale. With the recently initiated collaboration between the departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry, we are well equipped to advance our research to the next level. Broader Impacts: As ILs are essentially non-volatile, as compared to volatile molecular solvents, technologies enabled by the development of these new species will result in more environmentally benign processes. Also, this work constitutes a new line of research at the University of South Alabama that stems from the collaboration between Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry and will enhance interdisciplinary efforts in this direction. Coupling the engineering component to the in-place expertise in synthesis will enable us to be more internationally competitive. Also, with these molecules sufficiently characterized, researchers around the world will have access to a novel and scientifically rich resource currently absent from the possibilities offered by ILs. The undergraduate and graduate research students will be directly involved in conducting this research and will benefit from the cross-disciplinary training as they work as a unified team. The project will be incorporated into pedagogy as research activities are integrated into the undergraduate and graduate curricula. Because USA is an EPSCoR state institution serving many students in the greater Gulf Coast region from historically underrepresented groups, this project will allow those students who have not traditionally had access to this level of technological sophistication to actively participate in research. Additionally, the outreach effort (YouTube videos with downloadable classroom content) stemming from this work will help demonstrate the societal value of science and engineering to K-12 students, and motivate them to engage in careers in STEM related fields.