The largest screening study to date on the toxicity of ionic liquids (ILs) has been published.

A set of 45 ILs (consisting of different anions and cations) was tested for cytotoxicity in two reporter gene cell lines targeting the Nrf2-ARE mediated oxidative stress response (AREc32) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation (AhR-CALUX). No specific activation of the reporter genes was observed, but cytotoxicity was high and varied widely between cell lines. Some ILs were much more cytotoxic than predicted by the baseline toxicity model. The cellular metabolism of the ILs was investigated by LC-MS/MS. Effect data for 72 ILs for ten endpoints retrieved from the Tox21 database were evaluated for specificity. Although many of the ILs tested induced cytotoxicity at concentrations below baseline toxicity, the specific modes of action responsible could not be identified.

The full paper The mode of toxic action of ionic liquids: Narrowing down possibilities using high-throughput, in vitro cell-based bioassays by Eunhye Bae, Stephan Beil, Maria König, Stefan Stolte, Beate I. Escher, Marta Markiewicz is available as open access.

© Markiewicz