Ecotoxicity interspecies study of ionic liquids based on phosphonium and ammonium cations

Abstract

This work studies the effects of different bromide-based ionic liquids, with phosphonium and ammonium cations, towards several environmental biomodels: Daphnia magna, Allivibrio fischeri, Raphidocelis subcapitata. Results indicate that toxicity clearly depends on the biomodel, Allivibrio fischeri being the least sensitive one while Daphnia magna is more severely affected in the presence of the studied ionic liquids. In most of the cases, phosphonium moieties are less toxic than ammonium ionic liquids. Furthermore, a prediction about the oral toxicity and carcinogenicity of the studied ionic liquids has been also carried out, showing that these chemical structures may suggest significant toxicity but not present genotoxic or nongenotoxic carcinogenicity.

Keywords: Allivibrio fischeri; Daphnia magna; Ecotoxicity; Ionic liquids; Raphidocelis subcapitata.