How hazardous are ionic liquids? Structure–activity relationships and biological testing as important elements for sustainability evaluation†
Abstract
For ionic liquids only few toxicological and/or ecotoxicological data are available until now. A strategy is presented which aims at an environmental risk assessment of chemicals, using a combination of structure–activity relationships (SAR), toxicological and ecotoxicological tests and modelling. The parts “test-kit-concept” and “multidimensional risk analysis” are described in detail by means of selected imidazolium ionic liquids. The iterative process of this strategy offers a tool for sustainable product design.