Teaching green chemistry, sustainability ethics, and toxicity using nail polish removers

ABSTRACTIngredients in nail polish and polish removers are the primary causes of occupational health problems manicurists frequently face. Several key concepts of green chemistry can be taught to an undergraduate audience using nail polish removers as a case study. Students generated green profiles of various nail polish removers available on the market based on the 12 principles of green chemistry. This study also quantified the concentration of active ingredients in each nail polish remover using a greener analytical technique: the standard addition NMR method. The amount of nail polish remover needed for lethality in manicurists was calculated. It was determined that lethality is not the only factor to be considered in toxicology but routes of exposure are equally if not more important. Finally, a discussion of ethics and economics of the nail industry was included to create a holistic approach to the analysis and understanding of a consumer issue

Effect of temperature on salt-salt aqueous biphasic systems: manifestations of upper critical solution temperature

Water-miscible ionic liquids (ILs) may be salted out using kosmotropic salts such as potassium phosphate (K3PO4) to form salt-salt aqueous biphasic systems (ABS). The effect of temperature on these systems has been studied using phase diagrams and it is observed that the degree of binodal shift decreases (requiring lower IL and kosmotropic salt concentrations) with the increase of temperature following the trend [C(4)mim]Cl > [C(4)py]Cl > [C(4)mmim] Cl > [N-4444]Cl. This trend can be correlated with the decreasing hydrogen bonding abilities of each salt. The phase behavior was also interpreted on the basis of critical solution temperature behavior of pure aqueous ionic liquid solutions. Additionally, the distribution of alcohols in these systems was studied as a function of temperature and it was found that the distribution ratios did not change with changes in temperature. The Gibbs energy of transfer of a methylene group in these systems and correlation to tie-line length was also determined. It was concluded that while the miscibility of alcohols increases in the ILs with increasing temperature, phase divergence in the aqueous biphasic system decreases, and thus these competing forces tend to cancel each other out for small polar molecules. A comparison is provided for the response to temperature in the currently studied salt-salt systems and analogous ABS formed by the addition of hydrophilic polymers to kosmotropic salts (polymer-salt) or other polymers (polymer-polymer)

Teaching green chemistry, sustainability ethics, and toxicity using nail polish removers

Ingredients in nail polish and polish removers are the primary causes of occupational health problems manicurists frequently face. Several key concepts of green chemistry can be taught to an undergraduate audience using nail polish removers as a case study. Students generated green profiles of various nail polish removers available on the market based on the 12 principles of green chemistry. This study also quantified the concentration of active ingredients in each nail polish remover using a greener analytical technique: the standard addition NMR method. The amount of nail polish remover needed for lethality in manicurists was calculated. It was determined that lethality is not the only factor to be considered in toxicology but routes of exposure are equally if not more important. Finally, a discussion of ethics and economics of the nail industry was included to create a holistic approach to the analysis and understanding of a consumer issue.</p

Crystallographic insights into the behavior of highly acidic metal cations in ionic liquids from ractions of titanium tetrachloride with [1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium][X] ionic liquids (X = chloride, bromide, tetrafluoroborate)

Highly charged metal ions are difficult to investigate in weakly coordinating ionic liquids (ILs) because of the insolubility of their solid forms, but the molecular liquid TiCl4 offers a way to react tetravalent metal ions in an IL. Reactions of TiCl4 with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ([C4mim]+)-based ILs containing chloride or bromide lead to mixtures of highly metastable amorphous solids and small amounts of crystalline chlorotitanate salts including [C4mim]2[TiCl6] and two polymorphs of [C4mim]2[Ti2Cl10] in a manner not well correlated with stoichiometry or anion identity. The reaction of TiCl4 with [C4mim][BF4] yields crystals of the mixed fluoro-chloro complex [C4mim]2[Ti4F6Cl12], indicating spontaneous reaction of the IL ions to generate HF in situ. These unusual behaviors are explained in terms of the exceptionally high acidity of Ti4+ and the unusual behavior of TiCl4 among metal halides as a nonpolar molecular compound.PostprintPeer reviewe

Crystallographic insights into the behavior of highly acidic metal cations in ionic liquids from ractions of titanium tetrachloride with [1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium][X] ionic liquids (X = chloride, bromide, tetrafluoroborate) (crystallography data)

CCDC 1824492–182449