Clean Technologies for Pure Water:Eliminating micropollutants from drinking water

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Publication . Barreira, António; Santos, Andreia F. M.; Dionísio, Madalena; Jesus, Ana R.; Duarte, Ana Rita C.; Petrovski, Željko; Paninho, Ana B.; Ventura, Márcia G.; Branco, Luís C.; DQ - Departamento de Química; LAQV@REQUIMTE; MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Thyroid diseases affect a considerable portion of the population, with hypothyroidism being one of the most commonly reported thyroid diseases. Levothyroxine (T4) is clinically used to treat hypothyroidism and suppress thyroid stimulating hormone secretion in other thyroid diseases. In this work, an attempt to improve T4 solubility is made through the synthesis of ionic liquids (ILs) based on this drug. In this context, [Na][T4] was combined with choline [Ch]+ and 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium [C2OHMiM]+ cations in order to prepare the desired T4-ILs. All compounds were characterized by NMR, ATR-FTIR, elemental analysis, and DSC, aiming to check their chemical structure, purities, and thermal properties. The serum, water, and PBS solubilities of the T4-ILs were compared to [Na][T4], as well as the permeability assays. It is important to note an improved adsorption capacity, in which no significant cytotoxicity was observed against L929 cells. [C2OHMiM][T4] seems to be a good alternative to the commercial levothyroxine sodium salt with promising bioavailability.

2023-05-16Artigo científico

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Ionic Liquid Crystals as Versatile Functional Materials

Publication . Santos, Andreia Filipa Magalhães Seixas Lopes dos; Branco, Luís; Andrade, Maria Madalena; Godinho, Maria Helena

Ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) have emerged as a promising approach to develop versatile soft materials, exhibiting liquid crystalline behaviour. As they combine characteristics of both liquid crystals and ionic liquids, it is possible to tune their physicochemical and self-assembly prop- erties by the wise pairing of cation and anion, allowing the design of new functional and re- sponsive materials. It is known that the rigidity of the cation linked to the flexibility of the alkyl moiety are main requirements for the formation of ionic liquid crystals. In this thesis, a new series of ILCs based on pyridinium and picolinium cations was synthesised through sustainable methods and further characterised by thermal (TGA and DSC), microscopic (POM) and spec- troscopic (NMR, ATR-FTIR, XRD and DRS) techniques. Moreover, the influence of the methyl group position ( ortho-, meta- and para-) and the alkyl chain length (C6, C12 and C16) on their mesomorphism and conductive behaviour is provided, revealing smectic phases for all mate- rials with the exception of C6-substituted ionic liquid. Furthermore, it is presented multiple ways of exploring the selected organic salts: i) fundamental studies regarding modifications at mo- lecular level; ii) lyotropic aqueous mesophases and shear-induced foams; iii) enhancement of the performance by incorporating in porous silica matrices; iv) stimuli-responsive formulations using ionic liquid crystals as additives for fuel dyes. These synthesised organic salts acted as model compounds to evaluate the correlation between chemical structure, phase transitions and conductivity behaviour, guiding also the future design of sustainable electronic and smart materials.

2023Tese de doutoramento

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Entidade financiadora

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Programa de financiamento

3599-PPCDT

Número da atribuição

PTDC/EAM-AMB/2023/2021