Benzoate-based room temperature ionic liquids—thermal properties and glycosaminoglycan dissolution

Benzoate-based room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have been synthesized with cations of varying structures. The thermal properties of these RTILs have been characterized to understand their structure–property relationship. A subset of these benzoate-RTILs was found to be capable of dissolving highly charged polysaccharides, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to an extent of 10 mg/ml while PF6 and BF4 RTILs were not able to dissolve GAGs in significant quantities. The impact of the nature of the GAG counter-ion on GAG solubility is also addressed. The imidazolium salts of GAGs dissolved easier when compared to the sodium salts.