  Solvents comprise two thirds of all industrial emissions. Traditional organic
solvents easily reach the atmosphere as they have high vapor pressure and are
linked to a host of negative environmental effects including climate change,
urban air-quality and human illness. Room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL), on
the other hand, have low vapor pressure and are not flammable or explosive,
thereby resulting in fewer environmental burdens and health hazards. However,
their life cycle environmental impacts as well as freshwater ecotoxicity
implications are poorly understood. RTILs are molten salts that exist as
liquids at relatively low temperatures and have unique properties. Ionic
liquids consist of a large organic cation and charge-delocalized inorganic or
organic anion of smaller size and asymmetric shape. The organic cation can
undergo unlimited structural variations through modification of the alkyl
groups attached to the side chain of the base cation skeleton and most of these
structural variations are feasible, from chemical synthesis point of view, due
to the easy nature of preparation of their components. Functionally, ionic
liquids can be tuned to impart specific desired properties by switching
anions/cations or by incorporating functionalities into the cations/anions. It
is estimated that theoretically more than a trillion ionic liquid structures
can be formed. Due to their tunable nature, these molten salts have the
potential to be used as solvents for variety of applications.

Soft Condensed Matter;Chemical Physics