A series of cyclodextrin-derived room temperature macromolecular ionic liquids carrying rather low glass transition temperatures of -20 to -40 degrees C are synthesized via sequential esterification, quaternization, and anion metathesis reactions. In addition to being ionic in nature, they are viscous liquids at room temperature with more fluidic behavior at elevated temperatures. They serve as a solvent for organic dyes or iodine separation via a liquid-liquid extraction approach. This strategy is useful for the development of various sugar (macro)molecule-based functional ionic liquids as well as macromolecular ionic liquids.

This work demonstrates the use of imidazolium-based poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) as efficient dispersants of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). With these polymeric dispersants, highly stable fine dispersions of MWCNTs (inks) can be easily prepared in aqueous media and applied for rather simple but efficient surface modification of screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). Such a modification of SPEs remarkably increases the electroactive surface area and accelerates the electron transfer rate due to synergistic combination of specific features of MWCNTs such as strong adsorptive property and high specific surface with the advantages of PILs like ion conductivity and dispersability. We further show that the PIL/MWCNT-modified SPEs can be beneficially utilized for direct electrochemical analysis of double stranded DNA (dsDNA). Specifically, it is exemplified by the direct electrooxidation of guanine and adenine bases in salmon testes dsDNA chosen as a model system. The linear ranges for the determination of dsDNA correspond to 5-500 mu g/mL for the oxidative peak of guanine and 0.5-50 mu g/mL for the oxidative peak of adenine. This makes direct electrochemical dsDNA detection with the use of the easy-preparable PIL/MWCNT-modified SPEs strongly competing to currently applied spectral and fluorescent techniques. Furthermore, we show that the developed constructs are capable of sensing a single point mutation in the 12-bases single-stranded DNA fragments. Such detection is of high clinical significance in choosing an adequate anticancer treatment, where the electrochemical identification of the point mutation could offer time and cost benefits.

High energy/power density, capacitance, and long-life cycles are urgently demanded for energy storage electrodes. Porous carbons as benchmark commercial electrode materials are underscored by their (electro)chemical stability and wide accessibility, yet are often constrained by moderate performances associated with their powdery status. Here via controlled vacuum pyrolysis of a poly(ionic liquid) membrane template, advantageous features including good conductivity (132 S cm(-1) at 298 K), interconnected hierarchical pores, large specific surface area (1501 m(2) g(-1)), and heteroatom doping are realized in a single carbon membrane electrode. The structure synergy at multiple length scales enables large areal capacitances both for a basic aqueous electrolyte (3.1 F cm(-2)) and for a symmetric all-solid-state supercapacitor (1.0 F cm(-2)), together with superior energy densities (1.72 and 0.14 mW h cm(-2), respectively) without employing a current collector. In addition, theoretical calculations verify a synergistic heteroatom co-doping effect beneficial to the supercapacitive performance. This membrane electrode is scalable and compatible for device fabrication, highlighting the great promise of a poly(ionic liquid) for designing graphitic nanoporous carbon membranes in advanced energy storage.

Charged cyclic polymers, e.g. cyclic DNAs and polypeptides, play enabling roles in organisms, but their synthesis was challenging due to the well-known polyelectrolyte effect. To tackle the challenge, we developed a templated method to synthesize a library of imidazolium and pyridinium based cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s. Cyclic templates, cyclic polyimidazole and poly(2-pyridine), were synthesized first through ring-closure method by light-induced Diels - Alder click reaction. Through quaternization of cyclic templates followed by anion metathesis, the cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s were synthesized, which paired with varied counter anions.