Biocompatible locust bean gum mesoporous matrices prepared by ionic liquids and a scCO2 sustainable systemElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ra17314k

• Main Authors: Ventura, Márcia G, Paninho, Ana I, Nunes, Ana V. M, Fonseca, Isabel M, Branco, Luís C
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c5ra17314k

Locust bean gum (LBG) is a natural polymer that belongs to the increasingly attractive biodegradable polymers derived from natural sources. This polymer possesses a number of appealing features such as non-toxicity that confer it a high potential for the use in fields such as pharmacy and food industries. In this work, three methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) were used as alternative media in the preparation of biocompatible LBG gel matrices. The process consists of dissolving the biomaterial in a selected IL followed by a multi-step solvent exchange using a mixture of water and ethanol. The final gel (internal surface areas ranging from 60 to 180 m 2 g −1 ) is then dried using a semi-continuous high pressure CO 2 extraction process. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that LBG mesoporous gel matrices are reported using this efficient sustainable method. Locust bean gum (LBG) is a natural polymer that belongs to the increasingly attractive biodegradable mesoporous matrices prepared from ionic liquids and scCO 2 sustainable method.