Aqueous biphasic systems composed of ionic liquids and sodium carbonate as enhanced routes for the extraction of tetracycline

Aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) using ionic liquids (ILs) offer an alternative approach for the extraction, recovery, and purification of biomolecules through their partitioning between two aqueous liquid phases. In this work, the ability of a wide range of ILs to form ABS with aqueous solutions of Na₂CO₃ was evaluated. The ABS formed by IL + water + Na₂CO₃ were determined at 25°C, and the respective solubility curves, tie‐lines, and tie‐line lengths are reported. The studied ILs share the common chloride anion, allowing the IL cation core, the cation isomerism, the presence of functionalized groups, and alkyl side chain length effects to be evaluated. An increase in the cation side alkyl chain length leads to a higher ability for liquid–liquid demixing whereas different positional isomers and the presence of an allyl group have no major influence in the phase diagrams behavior. Quaternary phosphonium‐ and ammonium‐based fluids are more able to form an ABS when compared with imidazolium‐, pyridinium‐, pyrrolidinium‐, and piperidium‐based ILs. Moreover, the presence of an aromatic cation core has no major contribution to the formation of ABS when compared to the respective nonaromatic counterparts. Finally, to appraise on the systems applicability in downstream processing, selected systems were used for the partitioning of tetracyclines (neutral and salt forms) — a class of antibiotics produced by bacteria fermentation. Single‐step extraction efficiencies for the IL‐rich phase were always higher than 99% and confirm the great potential of ILs to be applied in the biotechnological field. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 29:645–654, 2013     

Partitioning of amino acids in the aqueous biphasic system containing the water‐miscible ionic liquid 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bromide and the water‐structuring salt potassium citrate

In biotechnology, extraction by means of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) is known as a promising tool for the recovery and purification of bio‐molecules. Over the past decade, the increasing emphasis on cleaner and environmentally benign extraction procedures has led to enhanced interest in the ABS containing ionic liquids (ILs)—a new class of non‐volatile alternative solvents. ABS composed of the hydrophilic IL {1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bromide ([C₄mim]Br)} and potassium citrate—which is easily degraded—represents a clean media to green separation of bio‐molecules. In this regard, here, the extraction capability of this ABS was evaluated through its application to the extraction of some amino acids. To gain an insight into the driving forces of amino acid partitioning in the studied IL ‐based ABS, the distribution of five model amino acids (L ‐tryptophan, L ‐phenylalanine, L ‐tyrosine, L ‐leucine, and L ‐valine) at different aqueous medium pH values and different phase compositions was investigated. The studies indicated that hydrophobic interactions were the main driving force, although electrostatic interactions and salting‐out effects were also important for the transfer of the amino acids. Moreover, based on the statistical analysis of the driving forces of amino acid partitioning in the studied IL ‐based ABS, a model was established to describe the partition coefficient of three model amino acids, L ‐tryptophan, L ‐phenylalanine, and L ‐valine, and employed to predict the partition coefficient of two other model amino acids, L ‐tyrosine and L ‐leucine. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2011     

Cationic effect of imidazolium-based ionic liquid on the stability of myoglobin

The conformational change of myoglobin (Mb) during guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl)-induced protein unfolding in the presence of various ionic liquids (ILs) in phosphate buffer was investigated using both the Soret band absorption and the fluorescence of tryptophan measurements. The GuHCl-induced denaturation midpoints of Mb derived from the absorption and fluorescence spectra were almost similar in the presence of 150 mM ILs with the same cation 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium (Bmim⁺) but different anions (BF₄⁻, NO₃⁻, Cl⁻, and Br⁻) in phosphate buffer. In addition, the denaturation midpoints of Mb in the presence of ILs were little lower than those in the absence of ILs in phosphate buffer. For the sake of clarity and comparison, we also measured the GuHCl-induced denaturation midpoints of Mb in the presence of 150 mM sodium salts with different anions (BF₄⁻, NO₃⁻, Cl⁻, and Br⁻) in phosphate buffer and found that their corresponding denaturation midpoints of Mb were almost similar to those observed in the absence of sodium salts in phosphate buffer. These experimental data indicate that Bmim⁺ cation can promote the unfolding of Mb. Further experiments revealed that the denaturation ability of ILs increases with increasing alkyl chain length of imidazolium cation of ILs and that hydroxyl-substituted imidazolium cation could also promote the unfolding of Mb.     

Enhanced extraction of proteins using cholinium‐based ionic liquids as phase‐forming components of aqueous biphasic systems

Aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of ionic liquids (ILs) are promising platforms for the extraction and purification of proteins. In this work, a series of alternative and biocompatible ABS composed of cholinium‐based ILs and polypropylene glycol were investigated. The respective ternary phase diagrams, tie‐lines, tie‐line lengths and critical points were determined at 25°C. The extraction performance of these systems for commercial bovine serum albumin (BSA) was then evaluated. The stability of BSA at the IL‐rich phase was ascertained by size exclusion high‐performance liquid chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Appropriate ILs lead to the complete extraction of BSA for the IL‐rich phase, in a single step, while maintaining the protein's native conformation. Furthermore, to evaluate the performance of these systems when applied to real matrices, the extraction of BSA from bovine serum was additionally carried out, revealing that the complete extraction of BSA was maintained and achieved in a single step. The remarkable extraction efficiencies obtained are far superior to those observed with typical polymer‐based ABS. Therefore, the proposed ABS may be envisaged as a more effective and biocompatible approach for the separation and purification of other value‐added proteins.     

Spectroscopic insight into the interaction of bovine serum albumin with imidazolium‐based ionic liquids in aqueous solution

The study of protein–ionic liquid interactions is very important because of the widespread use of ionic liquids as protein stabilizer in the recent years. In this work, the interaction of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with different imidazolium‐based ionic liquids (ILs) such as [1‐ethyl‐3‐methyl‐imidazolium ethyl sulfate (EmimESO₄), 1‐ethyl‐3‐methyl‐imidazolium chloride (EmimCl) and 1‐butyl‐3‐methyl‐imidazolium chloride (BmimCl)] has been investigated using different spectroscopic techniques. The intrinsic fluorescence of BSA is quenched by ILs by the dynamic mechanism. The thermodynamic analysis demonstrates that very weak interactions exist between BSA and ILs. 8‐Anilino‐1‐naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence and lifetime measurements reveal the formation of the compact structure of BSA in IL medium. The conformational changes of BSA were monitored by CD analysis. Temperature‐dependent ultraviolet (UV) measurements were done to study the thermal stability of BSA. The thermal stability of BSA in the presence of ILs follows the trend EmimESO₄ > EmimCl > BmimCl and in the presence of more hydrophobic IL, destabilization increases rapidly as a function of concentration.     

Modeling interactions between a β‐O‐4 type lignin model compound and 1‐allyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquid

Aiming at understanding the molecular mechanism of the lignin dissolution in imidazolium‐based ionic liquids (ILs), this work presents a combined quantum chemistry (QC) calculation and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study on the interaction of the lignin model compound, veratrylglycerol‐β‐guaiacyl ether (VG) with 1‐allyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride ([Amim]Cl). The monomer of VG is shown to feature a strong intramolecular hydrogen bond, and its dimer is indicated to present important π‐π stacking and intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions. The interactions of both the cation and anion of [Amim]Cl with VG are shown to be stronger than that between the two monomers, indicating that [Amim]Cl is capable of dissolving lignin. While Cl^– anion forms a hydrogen‐bonded complex with VG, the imidazolium cation interacts with VG via both the π‐π stacking and intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The calculated interaction energies between VG and the IL or its components (the cation, anion, and ion pair) indicate the anion plays a more important role than the cation for the dissolution of lignin in the IL. Theoretical results provide help for understanding the molecular mechanism of lignin dissolution in imidazolium‐based IL. The theoretical calculations on the interaction between the lignin model compound and [Amim]Cl ionic liquid indicate that the anion of [Amim]Cl plays a more important role for lignin dissolution although the cation also makes a substantial contribution.     

Butanol recovery from aqueous solution into ionic liquids by liquid–liquid extraction

Biobutanol has currently attracted considerable attention as an alternative biofuel to the petroleum-derived fuel due to several advantages including high energy content, low water absorption and easy application to the existing gasoline infrastructure. However, its production has still faced many obstacles to overcome including lack of energy-efficient butanol separation process from fermentation broth. To solve this issue, the extraction behavior of butanol from aqueous media into a variety of imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) was investigated by liquid–liquid extraction. To understand the effect of ILs properties, the solvent characteristics of ILs such as mutual solubility of feed solvent (water) and extraction solvent (IL), distribution coefficient of butanol between water and IL, selectivity, and extraction efficiency were correlated with hydrophobicity and polarity of ILs. The butanol distribution between ILs and water strongly depends on the hydrophobicity of anions of ILs followed by the hydrophobicity of cations of ILs. On the other hand, butanol extraction efficiency and selectivity depend on the polarity of ILs. Considering extraction efficiency and selectivity, [Tf₂N]-based ILs among the tested ILs showed to be the best extract solvent for the recovery of butanol from aqueous media. Among the studied ILs, [Omim][Tf₂N] showed the highest butanol distribution coefficient (1.939), selectivity (132) and extraction efficiency (74%) at 323.15 K, respectively.     

A theoretical investigation of the interactions between hydroxyl-functionalized ionic liquid and water/methanol/dimethyl sulfoxide

Density functional calculations have been used to investigate the interactions of 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium ([C₂OHmim]⁺)-based ionic liquids (hydroxyl ILs) with water (H₂O), methanol (CH₃OH), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). It was found that the cosolvent molecules interact with the anion and cation of each ionic liquid through different atoms, i.e., H and O atoms, respectively. The interactions between the cosolvent molecules and 1-ethyl-3-methylimizolium ([C₂mim]⁺)-based ionic liquids (nonhydroxyl ILs) were also studied for comparison. In the cosolvent–[nonhydroxyl ILs] systems, a furcated H-bond was formed between the O atom of the cosolvent molecule and the C2-H and C6-H, while there were always H-bonds involving the OH group of the cation in the cosolvent–[hydroxyl ILs] systems. Introducing an OH group on the ethyl side of the imidazolium ring may change the order of solubility of the molecular liquids.     

Partitioning of xylanolitic complex from Penicillium janthinellum by an aqueous two-phase system

This work evaluates the influences of five parameters (pH, PEG molecular mass, PEG concentration, concentration of buffer K₂HPO₄–KH₂PO₄ and NaCl concentration) on xylanolitic complex partitioning produced by P. janthinellum in aqueous two-phase systems, using a 2⁵ factorial experimental design. A mathematical model to quantify the influence of these parameters was attained and statistically tested. The optimum point for total protein extraction was obtained under the following conditions: pH 7.0, PEG 10 000, 3.67% PEG, 10% potassium phosphate and 12.4% NaCl. The partition coefficient (K) value experimentally obtained was 5.25 and that predicted by the model was 5.89.     

New Insights to Self‐Aggregation in Ionic Liquid Electrolytes for High‐Energy Electrochemical Devices

Some cations of ionic liquids (ILs) of interest for high‐energy electrochemical storage devices, such as lithium batteries and supercapacitors, have a structure similar to that of surfactants. For such, it is very important to understand if these IL cations tend to aggregate like surfactants since this would affect the ion mobility and thus the ionic conductivity. The aggregation behaviour of ILs consisting of the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion and different N‐alkyl‐N‐methyl‐pyrrolidinium cations, with the alkyl chain varied from C₃H₇ to C₈H₁₇, was extensively studied with NMR and Raman methods, also in the presence of Li⁺ cations. ²H NMR spin‐lattice and spin‐spin relaxation rates were analyzed by applying the “two step” model of surfactant dynamics. Here we show that, indeed, the cations in these ILs tend to form aggregates surrounded by the anions. The effect is even more pronounced in the presence of dissolved lithium cations.     

Purification of Pseudomonas sp. proteases through aqueous biphasic systems as an alternative source to obtain bioactive protein hydrolysates

Aqueous biphasic systems (ABSs) are an interesting alternative for separating industrial enzymes due to easy scale-up and low operational cost. The proteases of Pseudomonas sp. M211 were purified through ABS platforms formed by polyethylene glycol (PEG) and citrate buffer salt. Two experimental designs 2³ + 4 were performed to evaluate the following parameters: molar mass of PEG (M_PEG), concentration of PEG (C_PEG), concentration of citrate buffer (C_Cit), and pH. The partition coefficient (K), activity yield (Y), and purification factor (PF) were the responses analyzed. The best purification performance was obtained with the system composed of M_PEG = 10,000 g/mol, C_PEG = 22 wt%, C_Cit = 12 wt%, pH = 8.0; the responses obtained were K = 4.9, Y = 84.5%, PF = 15.1, and tie-line length = 52.74%. The purified proteases of Pseudomonas sp. (PPP) were used to obtain hydrolysates of Lupinus mutabilis (Peruvian lupin cultivar) seed protein in comparison with the commercial protease Alcalase® 2.4L. A strong correlation between hydrolysis degree and radical scavenging activity was observed, and the highest antioxidant activity was obtained with Alcalase® (1.40 and 3.47 μmol Trolox equivalent/mg protein, for 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity, respectively) compared with PPP (0.55 and 1.03 μmol Trolox/mg protein). Nevertheless, the IC₅₀ values were lower than those often observed for antioxidant hydrolysates from plant proteins. PEG/citrate buffer system is valuable to purify Pseudomonas proteases from the fermented broth, and the purified protease could be promising to produce antioxidant protein hydrolysates.     

Imidazolium chloride‐based ionic liquid‐assisted improvement of lipase activity in organic solvents

The activity of a lipase from a newly isolated Pseudomonas sp. was investigated in the presence of organic solvents and imidazolium chloride‐based ionic liquids (IL) such as BMIM[Cl] and HMIM[Cl]. The lipase activity in the presence of IL was higher compared to that in common organic solvents such as methanol and 2‐propanol. A possible explanation for the enzyme activation might be the structural changes induced in the protein in organic systems. Since IL quench the intensity of fluorescence emission, it was not possible to investigate the major factor that influences the enzyme behavior in these new organic salts. Furthermore, the enzyme exhibited excellent activity in buffer mixtures containing both organic solvent and IL. The stability of the lipase at 50°C was considerably increased in the presence of 20% BMIM[Cl] compared with the untreated lipase in aqueous medium. The light scattering method clearly showed that prevention of aggregation could be the reason for thermal stabilization at 50°C in reactions containing IL. Kinetic analysis of the enzyme in the presence of different concentrations of IL showed that the K_m value increased from 0.45 mM in aqueous buffer to 2.4 mM in 50% v/v BMIM[Cl]/buffer. The increase in K_m indicates that IL can significantly reduce the binding affinity of the substrate to the enzyme. Also, a linear correlation was observed between the BMIM[Cl] concentration and V_max of the enzyme. As the concentration of BMIM[Cl] increased from 10 to 50% v/v, the V_max value increased from 1.8 to 46 μM/min.     

Peroxidase biocatalysis in water-soluble ionic liquids: activity,kinetic and thermal stability

Abstract

The activity and stability of commercial peroxidase was investigated in the presence of five 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) with either bromide or chloride anions: [C_xmim][X]. The peroxidase activity and stability were better for the shorter alkyl chain lengths of the ILs and peroxidase was more stable in the presence of the bromide anion, rather than chloride. The thermal inactivation profile was studied from 45 to 60 °C in [C₄mim][Cl] and [C₄mim][Br]. The activation energy was also determined. Kinetic analysis of the enzyme in the presence of the [C₄mim][Br] or control (buffer solution) showed that the KM value increased 5-fold and Vm decreased 13-fold in the presence of the IL. The increase in KM indicates that this IL can reduce the binding affinity between substrate and enzyme.     

α-Rhamnosidase and β-glucosidase expressed by naringinase immobilized on new ionic liquid sol-gel matrices: Activity and stability studies

Novel ionic liquid (IL) sol-gel materials development, for enzyme immobilization, was the goal of this work. The deglycosylation of natural glycosides were performed with α-l-rhamnosidase and β-d-glucosidase activities expressed by naringinase. To attain that goal ILs with different structures were incorporated in TMOS/Glycerol sol-gel matrices and used on naringinase immobilization.The most striking feature of ILs incorporation on TMOS/Glycerol matrices was the positive impact on the enzyme activity and stability, which were evaluated in fifty consecutive runs. The efficiency of α-rhamnosidase expressed by naringinase TMOS/Glycerol@ILs matrices increased with cation hydrophobicity as follows: [OMIM] > [BMIM] > [EMIM] > [C₂OHMIM] > [BIM] and [OMIM] ≈ [E₂-MPy] ? [E₃-MPy]. Regarding the imidazolium family, the hydrophobic nature of the cation resulted in higher α-rhamnosidase efficiencies: [BMIM]BF₄ ? [C₂OHMIM]BF₄ ? [BIM]BF₄. Small differences in the IL cation structure resulted in important differences in the enzyme activity and stability, namely [E₃-MPy] and [E₂-MPy] allowed an impressive difference in the α-rhamnosidase activity and stability of almost 150%. The hydrophobic nature of the anion influenced positively α-rhamnosidase activity and stability. In the BMIM series the more hydrophobic anions (PF₆⁻, BF₄⁻ and Tf₂N⁻) led to higher activities than TFA. SEM analysis showed that the matrices are shaped lens with a film structure which varies within the lens, depending on the presence and the nature of the IL.The kinetics parameters, using naringin and prunin as substrates, were evaluated with free and naringinase encapsulated, respectively on TMOS/Glycerol@[OMIM][Tf₂N] and TMOS/Glycerol@[C₂OHMIM][PF₆] and on TMOS/Glycerol. An improved stability and efficiency of α-l-rhamnosidase and β-glucosidase expressed by encapsulated naringinase on TMOS/Glycerol@[OMIM][Tf₂N] and TMOS/Glycerol@[C₂OHMIM][PF₆] were achieved. In addition to these advantageous, with ILs as sol-gel templates, environmental friendly processes can be implemented.     

From water‐in‐oil to oil‐in‐water emulsions to optimize the production of fatty acids using ionic liquids in micellar systems

Biocatalysis is nowadays considered as one of the most important tools in green chemistry. The elimination of multiple steps involved in some of the most complex chemical synthesis, reducing the amounts of wastes and hazards, thus increasing the reaction yields and decreasing the intrinsic costs, are the major advantages of biocatalysis. This work aims at improving the enzymatic hydrolysis of olive oil to produce valuable fatty acids through emulsion systems formed by long alkyl chain ionic liquids (ILs). The optimization of the emulsion and the best conditions to maximize the production of fatty acids were investigated. The stability of the emulsion was characterized considering the effect of several parameters, namely, the IL and its concentration and different water/olive oil volumetric ratios. ILs from the imidazolium and phosphonium families were evaluated. The results suggest that the ILs effect on the hydrolysis performance varies with the water concentration and the emulsion system formed, that is, water‐in‐oil or oil‐in‐water emulsion. Although at low water concentrations, the presence of ILs does not present any advantages for the hydrolysis reaction, at high water contents (in oil‐in‐water emulsions), the imidazolium‐based IL acts as an enhancer of the lipase catalytic capacity, super‐activating 1.8 times the enzyme, and consequently promoting the complete hydrolysis of the olive oil for the highest water contents [85% (v/v)]. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:1473–1480, 2015     

Theoretical study on the interactions between methanol and imidazolium-based ionic liquids

To better understand the property of the binary systems composing of imidazolium salt, [emim]⁺Aˉ (A=Clˉ, Brˉ, BF₄ˉ, and PF₆ˉ) and methanol, we have investigated in detail the interactions of methanol molecule with anions Aˉ, cation [emim]⁺, and ion pair [emim]⁺Aˉ of several ionic liquids (ILs) based on 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cation by performing density functional theory calculations. It is found that H-bonds are universally involved in these systems, which may play an important role for the miscibility of methanol with imidazolium-based ILs. The interaction mechanisms of methanol molecule with anion and cation are found to be different in nature: the former mainly involves LP_X-s_{O - H}^* \sigma_{{O - H}}^{*} interaction, while the latter relates with the decisive orbital overlap of the type of LP_O-s_{C - H}^* \sigma_{{C - H}}^{*} . Based on the present calculations, we have provided some reasonable interpretations for properties of the binary mixtures of ILs and alcohol and revealed valuable information for the interaction details between ILs and alcohols, which is expected to be useful for the design of more efficient ILs to form superior solvent system with alcohol.     

Investigation of maltodextrin‐based synergistic system with amino acid chiral ionic liquid as additive for enantioseparation in capillary electrophoresis

The combined use of chiral ionic liquids (ILs) and chiral selectors in capillary electrophoresis (CE) to establish a synergistic system has proven to be an effective approach for enantioseparation. In this article, tetramethylammonium‐L‐arginine, a kind of amino acid chiral IL, was applied to investigate its potential synergistic effect with maltodextrin in CE enantioseparation. The established maltodextrin‐based synergistic system showed markedly improved enantioseparations compared with the single maltodextrin system. Parameters such as the chiral IL concentration, maltodextrin concentration, buffer pH, applied voltage, and capillary temperature were optimized. Satisfactory enantioseparation of the five studied drugs, including nefopam, duloxetine, ketoconazole, cetirizine, and citalopram was achieved in 50 mM Tris‐H₃PO₄ buffer solution (pH 3.0) containing 7.0% (m/v) maltodextrin and 60 mM tetramethylammonium‐L‐arginine. In addition, the chiral configuration of tetramethylammonium‐L‐arginine was also investigated to demonstrate the existence of a synergistic effect between chiral ILs and maltodextrin.     

Efficient enantioselective reduction of 4′-methoxyacetophenone with immobilized Rhodotorula sp. AS2.2241 cells in a hydrophilic ionic liquid-containing co-solvent system

The biocatalytic enantioselective reduction of 4′-methoxyacetophenone to (S)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol was successfully conducted in a hydrophilic IL-containing co-solvent system using immobilized Rhodotorula sp. AS2.2241 cells. Of all the tested ILs, the best results were observed with the novel IL 1-(2′-hydroxy)ethyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate (C₂OHMIM·NO₃), which showed a good biocompatibility with the cells and increased the cell membrane permeability moderately, thus improving the efficiency of the bioreduction. To better understand the bioreduction, several crucial influential variables were also examined. The optimal C₂OHMIM·NO₃ content, buffer pH, reaction temperature and substrate concentration were 5.0% (v/v), 8.5, 25 °C and 12 mM, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the initial reaction rate, the maximum yield and the product e.e. were 9.8 μmol/h g_cell, 98.3% and >99%, respectively, which are much better than the results previously reported. The established biocatalytic system has proven to be highly effective for the reduction of other aryl ketones. Also, the cells exhibited excellent operational stability in the presence of C₂OHMIM·NO₃. Moreover, the ILs can accumulate within the cells, suggesting that ILs are likely to interact with the related enzymes within the cells.     

Elucidating Interactions and Conductivity of Newly Synthesised Low Bandgap Polymer with Protic and Aprotic Ionic Liquids

In this paper, we have examined the conductivity and interaction studies of ammonium and imidazolium based ionic liquids (ILs) with the newly synthesised low bandgap polymer (Poly(2-heptadecyl-4-vinylthieno[3,4-d]thiazole) (PHVTT)). Use of low bandgap polymers is the most suitable way to harvest a broader spectrum of solar radiations for solar cells. But, still there is lack of most efficient low bandgap polymer. In order to solve this problem, we have synthesised a new low bandgap polymer and investigated its interaction with the ILs to enhance its conductivity. ILs may undergo almost unlimited structural variations; these structural variations have attracted extensive attention in polymer studies. The aim of present work is to illustrate the state of art progress of implementing the interaction of ILs (protic and aprotic ILs) with newly synthesised low bandgap polymer. In addition to this, our UV-Vis spectroscopy, confocal Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy results have revealed that all studied ILs (tributylmethylammonium methyl sulfate ([N₁₄₄₄][MeSO₄] from ammonium family) and 1-methylimidazolium chloride ([Mim]Cl, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl from imidazolium family) have potential to interact with polymer. Our semi empirical calculation with help of Hyperchem 7 shows that protic IL ([Mim]Cl) interacts strongly with the low bandgap polymer through the H-bonding. Further, protic ILs shows enhanced conductivity than aprotic ILs in association with low bandgap polymer. This study provides the combined effect of low bandgap polymer and ILs that may generate many theoretical and experimental opportunities.     

Purification and Characterization of Polyphenol Oxidase From Waste Potato Peel by Aqueous Two-Phase Extraction

Potato peel from food industrial waste is a good source of polyphenol oxidase (PPO). This work illustrates the application of an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) for the extraction and purification of PPO from potato peel. ATPS was composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and potassium phosphate buffer. Effect of different process parameters, namely, PEG, potassium phosphate buffer, NaCl concentration, and pH of the system, on partition coefficient, purification factor, and yield of PPO enzyme were evaluated. Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized as a statistical tool for the optimization of ATPS. Optimized experimental conditions were found to be PEG1500 17.62% (w/w), potassium phosphate buffer 15.11% (w/w), and NaCl 2.08 mM at pH 7. At optimized condition, maximum partition coefficient, purification factor, and yield were found to be 3.7, 4.5, and 77.8%, respectively. After partial purification of PPO from ATPS, further purification was done by gel chromatography where its purity was increased up to 12.6-fold. The purified PPO enzyme was characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), followed by K_m value 3.3 mM, and V_max value 3333 U/mL, and enzyme stable ranges for temperature and pH of PPO were determined. These results revealed that ATPS would be an attractive option for obtaining purified PPO from waste potato peel.