engleski

Ecotoxicology in the service of green technology

The green technology is defned as design of chemical products and processes that reduce or completely remove the synthesis and application of harmful and hazardous substances. Volatile organic solvents account for almost 2/3 of all industrial emissions causing many adverse effects on the environment. According to the green chemistry principles, selection of a suitable replacement for organic solvents is based on on a reasonable compromise between economic, social and environmental requirements. Therefore, synthesis of alternative solvents must be environmentally friendly i.e. synthetic methods should be designed in such a way that the substances toxic to humans and the environment are not used and nor produced. Also, it is important that after their application, they break down into harmless degradation products which do not accumulate in the environment. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) attracted the most attention as a possible alternative solvents, due to their low volatility, non- flammability, high thermal, chemical and electrochemical stability and in particular the possibility of recycling. They are unlikely to act as air contaminants or inhalation toxins, but they can be potential water and soil contaminants resulting from accidental spills or lack of wastewater treatment effectiveness. Therefore, their persistence in the water and soil, (bio) degradation and bioaccumulation in aquatic or terrestrial organisms play important role in their overall environmental impact and fate. All those aspects are investigated in the feld of ecotoxicology. The number of newly synthesized alternative solvents increases yearly and therefore simple and reliable methods for their ecotoxicological assessment are necessary. Toxicity assessment of alternative solvents is carried out by a series of tests on various living organisms (in vivo) or animal cells cultures (in vitro) in order to collect data on their impact on humans and environment. So far toxicity of ILs and DESs was determined toward bacteria, yeast, algae, multicellular organisms such as nematode, water snail, water flea, zebra fsh, duckweed, cressspring barley and in various cell lines. Obtained results gave valuble answers about the relationship between solvent structure and their toxicity, as well as possible mechanisam of action. Creating a database of environmentally benign structure moieties of ILs and DESs, based on their toxicological and biodegradation data, has a great practical use as a guideline for manufacturers and regulators to properly develop and regulate the use of these novel green solvents.

deep eutectic solvents; ecotoxicology; green technology; in vitro cell cultures; ionic liquids

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