Green Chemistry Blog

A series of novel ionic liquids have been synthesized and applied to the dissolution of cellulose materials without causing considerable degradation of the polymer.

Hummel and co-workers from Finland and Austria have prepared by a facile route, a series of novel ionic liquids (ILs) which comprise of two asymmetric anions – dimethyl phosphorothioate and dimethyl phosphoroselenoate – and several imidazolium and non-imidazolium cations.  The principle of the work was to design an ionic liquid with reduced viscosity, while preserving its ability to dissolve lignocellulosic material, by altering the anion.

Hummel tested these new ionic liquids in the dissolution of cellulose, and the dimethyl phosphorothioate ionic liquids were able to dissolve cellulose with a high degree of polymerization but without extensive degradation.

To read more, please click on the link below.  This article is free to access until the 14th September 2011!

Dimethyl phosphorothioate and phosphoroselenoate ionic liquids as solvent media for cellulosic materials, Michael Hummel, Carmen Froschauer, Gerhard Laus, Thomas Röder, Holger Kopacka, Lauri K. J. Hauru, Hedda K. Weber, Herbert Sixta and Herwig Schottenberger, Green Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1GC15407A