Toxicological evaluation of magnetic ionic liquids in human cell lines

Magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) are new solvents with an interesting broad of applications however their toxicity is still an open issue. In this paper we report the toxicity of [C8MIM] and [Choline-Cn] based magnetic ionic liquids assessed in two human cell lines: normal skin fibroblasts (CRL-1502) and colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (CaCo-2), acquiring this last characteristics of human enterocytes after differentiation. The results showed that [CoCl4] and [MnCl4] are more prone to generate cytotoxicity.

• Imidazolium and choline based cations were combined with magnetic anions to produce magnetic ionic liquids.
• The used magnetic anions were [FeCl4], [GdCl6], [CoCl4] and [MnCl4].
• Human cell lines were exposed to these magnetic ionic liquids for prediction of their toxic potential.
• Results indicate that [CoCl4] and [MnCl4] are likely the most toxic.