SENSITIVITY OF TWO PROCEDURES TO ESTIMATE THE IMPACT OF THE IONIC LIQUID 1,3-DIMETHYLIMIDAZOLIUM DIMETHYL PHOSPHATE ([C1C1Im][DMP]) ON SOIL MICROBIAL ACTIVITY

Resumo

Ionic liquids are playing an increasingly relevant role in green chemistry due to one of their mainimportant characteristic, their negligible vapourpressure, which means they are non-contaminant (oharmless) to the atmosphere. Nevertheless, theycould be toxic for terrestrial ecosystems and therefore research to assess its toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial environments should be performed to assesswhether they are as innocuous as sometimes assumed.The 1,3 dimethylimidazolium dimethylphospate, [C1C1Im][DMP], is an imidazolium ionic liquidwith potential use in several industrial applications.Thus estimating the toxicity of this compound tothese terrestrial ecosystems is of priority.In this study, we investigated the impact of different amounts of 1,3-dimethylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate ([C1C1Im][DMP]) on soil microbialactivity by using two different methods: isothermalmicrocalorimetry and the classical method for measuring basal soil respiration. The aims of the studywere to estimate the toxicity of this compound to soilmicroorganisms, to assess whether both methodswere equally sensitive to estimate the impact of thisionic liquid on soil microbial activity and to combinethe information obtained by both methods to obtaina more insightful picture of the impact of this compound on soil microbial activity.