Synthesis of a cellulose dissolving liquid zwitterion from general and low-cost reagents

A carboxylate-type liquid zwitterion, OE 2 imC 3 C, has been recently reported as a unique solvent as a class of ionic liquids with distinctive properties and functions such as cellulose dissolution ability and low toxicity to fermentative microoganisms. Therefore, OE 2 imC 3 C first enabled successive conversion of biomass to bioethanol in the same reaction pot. However, the reagent, 1-bromo-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethane, used for OE 2 imC 3 C synthesis is expensive and sometimes out of production and thus prevents its industrialization. Here we synthesized OE 2 imC 3 C from general and low-cost reagents. We also confirmed that the present OE 2 imC 3 C maintained the distinctive properties and functions because previous literature indicates synthetic procedures affect the properties. The low toxicity and cellulose dissolution ability of the OE 2 imC 3 C synthesized in this study were equivalent to those of conventional OE 2 imC 3 C. In addition, OE 2 imC 3 C is known to have ability to cryopreserve mammalian cells and the OE 2 imC 3 C synthesized in this study exhibited the ability.