How hazardous are ionic liquids? Structure-activity relationships and biological testing as important elements for sustainability evaluation

For ionic liquids only few toxicological and/or ecotoxicological data are available until now. A strategy is presented which aims at an environmental risk assessment of chemicals, using a combination of structure-activity relationships (SAR), toxicological and ecotoxicological tests and modelling. The parts test-kit-concept and multidimensional risk analysis are described in detail by means of selected imidazolium ionic liquids. The iterative process of this strategy offers a tool for sustainable product design.