The combination of cations and anions with low interactions leads to ionic liquids - salts with melting points lower than 100 °C. Commonly used cationic N-heterocycles like imidazole in combination with anions like tetrafluoroborate, triflate or bistriflylimide are known to readily yield ionic liquids. But what happens when you use a cationic or anionic carbohydrate? We investigate the influence of protecting groups, anomeric variations and the carbohydrate itself on the properties of CHILs!

The biocompatibility of ionic liquids is especially important for medical research. Ionic liquids are heavily researched in different fields of medical applications, e.g. as coating for implants, thus requiring a high biocompatibility towards human cells. At the same time, antibacterial properties are often necessary for said medical applications. Carbohydrate based ionic liquids have already been proven by our group to exert a high biocompatibility towards mammalian cells and we are planning to investigate their antibacterial properties as well as generell biodegradability in the near future!

Hydrogels are three-dimensional polymer networks that swell but do not dissolve in water. They are either prepared by polymerizing water-soluble monomers in the presence of a crosslinker or by crosslinking an already existing (bio)polymer. Hydrogels are commonly used as superabsorbers (e.g. in diapers), in wound-dressing or as water-reservoir in agriculture among many other applications. An often researched aspect of hydrogels is their ability to intake other water-soluable substances together with water, thus allowing a slow emission of said substance from the hydrogel over time. We want to investigate hydrogels produced from CHIL-based monomers for their swelling properties, biocompatibility and other characteristics.

Biocatalysis offers an attractive option in the organic chemists toolbox for highly stereoselective reactions. At the same time, ambient reaction conditions can be realized if enzymes are used as catalysts, which is a key point with the green chemistry aspect in mind. Our CHILs can be used to further enhance the catalytic activity of enzymes like Novozym 435 when adsorbed onto the catalyst surface based on a co-catalyst/co-solvent mechanism. We investigate the influence of the CHIL structure on the biocatalytic activity in the synthesis of industrially relevant building blocks!

Asymmetric synthesis is essential for the specific construction of pure stereochemical centers. This can be achieved by metal complexes, enzymes and by chiral organocatalysts. It has been proven that carbohydrate based ionic liquids are able to act as chiral organocatalysts, however, their use is still limited due to their often complex multistep syntheses. We are working on improving both the synthetic strategies for achieving CHILs as well as their catalytic activity and chiral induction!