posted on 2024-02-28, 18:37authored byMiyah
N. Awad, Stuart J. Brown, Amanda N. Abraham, Dilek Sezer, Qi Han, Xiaoying Wang, Tu C. Le, Aaron Elbourne, Gary Bryant, Tamar L. Greaves, Saffron J. Bryant
Ionic
liquids (ILs) are a diverse class of solvents which can be
selected for task-specific properties, making them attractive alternatives
to traditional solvents. To tailor ILs for specific biological applications,
it is necessary to understand the structure–property relationships
of ILs and their interactions with cells. Here, a selection of carboxylate
anion-based ILs were investigated as cryoprotectants, which are compounds
added to cells before freezing to mitigate lethal freezing damage.
The cytotoxicity, cell permeability, thermal behavior, and cryoprotective
efficacy of the ILs were assessed with two model mammalian cell lines.
We found that the biophysical interactions, including permeability
of the ILs, were influenced by considering the IL pair together, rather
than as single species acting independently. All of the ILs tested
had high cytotoxicity, but ethylammonium acetate demonstrated good
cryoprotective efficacy for both cell types tested. These results
demonstrate that despite toxicity, ILs may be suitable for certain
biological applications. It also demonstrates that more research is
required to understand the contribution of ion pairs to structure–property
relationships and that knowing the behavior of a single ionic species
will not necessarily predict its behavior as part of an IL.