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Ionic Liquids in Life Sciences

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Encyclopedia of Ionic Liquids

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We witness daily the release of new knowledge on fundamental and applied aspects of ionic liquids (ILs), spread in over 100,000 publications. Nearly one tenth of those studies intersect with the Life Sciences, but only a much smaller number move beyond simply studying the toxicity of these traditionally considered man-made chemicals. In a recent study, Davis and co-workers demonstrated that an IL is formed during the confrontation of two ant species, Solenopsis invicta and Nylanderia fulva [1]. The formation of the IL was considered to probably be a form of defense mechanism of N. fulvaagainst the venom of the former ant species. The prospect of naturally occurring ILs certainly breaks the paradigm that these are exclusively man-made chemicals and fosters a new boost of interest in their research. Their usability in Life Sciences, e.g., as bioactive compounds or inducers of precise cellular responses, is still rather unexplored, but unforeseen developments in this topic are certainly...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Oeiras, Portugal

    Diego O. Hartmann & Cristina Silva Pereira

Authors
  1. Diego O. Hartmann
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  2. Cristina Silva Pereira
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Correspondence to Cristina Silva Pereira .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Process Engineering, Beijing, China

    Suojiang Zhang

Section Editor information

  1. No affiliation provided

    Zhonghao Li

  2. No affiliation provided

    Maya Guncheva

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Hartmann, D.O., Silva Pereira, C. (2019). Ionic Liquids in Life Sciences. In: Zhang, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ionic Liquids. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6739-6_4-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6739-6_4-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6739-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6739-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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