Enhanced separation performance of aqueous biphasic systems formed by carbohydrates and tetraalkylphosphonium- or tetraalkylammonium-based ionic liquids

Aiming at designing effective and sustainable separation processes, herein we propose the use of carbohydrates combined with tetraalkylphosphonium- or tetraalkylammonium-based ionic liquids (ILs) to form aqueous biphasic systems (ABS). The formation of ABS composed of non-aromatic and non-fluorinated ILs with carbohydrates is shown here for the first time. These novel systems are competitive extraction platforms when compared against more conventional ABS formed by ILs and salts or fluorinated ILs and carbohydrates. Finally, it is shown that these systems can be efficiently recovered and reused, without losses in their separation performance.