Understanding the Formation of Deep Eutectic Solvents: Betaine as a Universal Hydrogen Bond Acceptor

Dinis O Abranches; Liliana P Silva; Mónia A R Martins; Simão P Pinho; João A P Coutinho

doi:10.1002/cssc.202001331

Understanding the Formation of Deep Eutectic Solvents: Betaine as a Universal Hydrogen Bond Acceptor

ChemSusChem. 2020 Sep 18;13(18):4916-4921. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202001331. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Authors

Dinis O Abranches¹, Liliana P Silva¹, Mónia A R Martins¹, Simão P Pinho², João A P Coutinho¹

Affiliations

¹ CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810193, Aveiro, Portugal.
² Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300253, Bragança, Portugal.

PMID: 32672893
DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202001331

Abstract

The mechanism of formation of betaine-based deep eutectic solvents (DES) is presented for the first time. Due to its polarity unbalance, it was found that betaine displays strong negative deviations from ideality when mixed with a variety of different organic substances. These results pave the way for a comprehensive design of novel deep eutectic solvents. A connection to biologically relevant systems was made using betaine (osmolyte) and urea (protein denaturant), showing that these two compounds formed a DES, the molecular interactions of which were greatly enhanced in the presence of water.

Keywords: green chemistry; natural deep eutectic solvents; non-ideality; trimethylglycine; zwitterions.

Abstract

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