Room-temperature ionic liquids that dissolve carbohydrates in high concentrations

Carbohydrates are only sparingly soluble in common organic solvents as well as in weakly coordinating ionic liquids, such as [BMIm][BF4]. Ionic liquids that contain the dicyanamide anion, in contrast, dissolve approx. 200 g L−1 of glucose, sucrose, lactose and cyclodextrin. Candida antarctica lipase B mediated the esterification of sucrose with dodecanoic acid in [BMIm][dca].