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

了解脂质离子液体的热物理和溶剂性质

• 批准号: 1133101
• 负责人: Kevin West
• 金额: $ 23.85万
• 依托单位: University of South Alabama
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-01 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1133101&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Understanding; Thermophysical; Solvent; Properties; Lipid

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.

1133101West 简介：这种新型离子液体 (IL) 可能会创造一种新的快速分离生物分子（例如蛋白质）的方法，其速度比色谱法和其他成熟的方法更快。 这也是一个重大进步，因为新的离子液体应提供一个平台来研究离子液体中的酶催化反应，并应作为细胞膜热力学和运输过程的模型系统。这些新型离子液体的开发可能会带来更加环保和经济的工艺。智力优点：离子液体 (IL) 是有机盐，在温度低于 100°C 时呈液体。它们是一类独特的化合物，本质上是非挥发性的，并且具有高度可调的特性。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，易于溶解中等极性和极性溶质（类似溶解），但通常是非极性化合物的不良溶剂。这限制了离子液体在涉及非极性化合物（包括脂肪酸和胆固醇等生物来源化合物）的化学反应和分离过程中的适用性。我们开发了一种新型离子液体，其中含有长烷基链，可赋予非极性类溶剂特性，使其在室温下保持液体状态。通常，由于长链产生的相互作用增强，具有长烷基链的离子液体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，即某些生物体通过在磷脂的烷基链中包含不饱和度来调节较冷温度下膜流动性的方式。与这些离子液体一样，磷脂是具有长烷基链的带电物质。在这项工作中，我们建议研究这些离子液体作为纯组分以及与非极性溶质的二元混合物的热物理行为，以研究它们如何用于化学和制药行业的分离过程。在最近的出版物中证明了这一现象后，我们现在建议研究一组扩展的非极性类室温离子液体的热物理性质，并研究整个类别物质的溶剂和溶液热力学性质。我们假设，结合这些长非极性烷基链，同时保持低熔点，将导致离子液体表现出非极性类溶剂特性，并可能具有根据液体中存在的非极性域的大小和形状分离非极性溶质的能力。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、更经济的过程，而目前由于溶解度限制而无法实现这些过程。此外，我们预计这些离子液体将为研究人员提供一个平台，以研究离子液体中更广泛的酶催化反应，并且它们可以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，包括通过化学方式捕获二氧化碳的布朗斯台德酸性离子液体和路易斯碱性离子液体，这些离子液体已获得商业生产和销售许可。随着化学与生物分子工程与化学系之间最近启动的合作，我们已做好充分准备将我们的研究推向新的水平。更广泛的影响：与挥发性分子溶剂相比，离子液体本质上是非挥发性的，因此开发这些新物种所带来的技术将带来更加环保的工艺。此外，这项工作构成了南阿拉巴马大学的一条新研究线，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。将工程组件与合成领域的现有专业知识相结合将使我们更具国际竞争力。此外，随着这些分子得到充分表征，世界各地的研究人员将能够获得目前离子液体所无法提供的新颖且科学丰富的资源。本科生和研究生将直接参与这项研究，并作为一个统一的团队从跨学科培训中受益。随着研究活动被纳入本科生和研究生课程，该项目将被纳入教学法。由于美国是 EPSCoR 州立机构，为大墨西哥湾沿岸地区历史上代表性不足的群体的许多学生提供服务，因此该项目将允许那些传统上无法获得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（带有可下载课堂内容的 YouTube 视频）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。