Imidazolium salts and their polymeric materials for biological applications

Imidazolium salts, distinct from their parent imidazoles, are made up of a discrete cation and anion pair, and have found widespread utility as ionic liquids. A lesser known function of such imidazolium salts includes the application of these salts in biological systems, and several areas of bio-applications, including antitumour, antimicrobial, antioxidant and bioengineering applications, will be presented and discussed in this review. The wide-ranging applications and versatility of these imidazolium salts stem from the ease of their structural variation, in which properties such as amphiphilicity, lipophilicity and solubility can be tuned.