Table 1 The toxicity of some DESs

MTPB/Gly (1:3)

MTPB/EG (1:3)

MTPB/TEG (1:3)

Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Artemia salina

All the DESs showed toxic effect on some bacteria

The cytotoxicity of DESs was much higher than their individual components

Hayyan et al. (2013a)

ChCl/Gly (1:3)

ChCl/EG (1:3)

ChCl/U (1:3)

ChCl/TEG (1:3)

Escherichia coli, Staphlococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Artemia salina

All the DESs showed no toxic effect on the bacteria

The cytotoxicity of DESs was much higher than their individual components

Hayyan et al. (2013b)

ChCl/Gly (1:3)

ChCl/EG (1:3)

ChCl/TEG (1:3)

ChCl/U (1:3)

PC3, A375, HepG2, HT29, MCF-7, OKF6, H413, ICR mice

The cytotoxicity of DESs varied from various cell lines. The toxic effects of DESs were higher than their individual components

Hayyan et al. (2015)

ChCl or ChOAc/U (1:1)

ChCl or ChOAc/Gly (1:1)

ChCl or ChOAc/A (1:1)

ChCl or ChOAc/EG (1:1)

Escherichia coli

0.75 M DES could afford an inhibition index of 72.8–93.8% for the bacterium and was more toxic then the components

Wen et al. (2015)

ChCl/EG (1:2)

ChCl/Gly (1:2)

ChCl/U (1:2)

DAC/EG (1:2)

EAC/Gly (1:2)

DAC/MA (1:1)

DAC/ZnN (1:1)

DAC/ZnCl₂ (1:2)

Aspergillus niger, Cyprinus carpio fish

Metal salt-containing DESs were most toxic than others. DAC-based DESs were less toxic than ChCl-based DESs

Juneidi et al. (2015)

20 kinds of NADESs

Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis

All the DESs except for acid-containing DESs showed no toxic effect on the bacteria

Zhao et al. (2015)

ChCl/ZnCl₂ (1:2)

ChCl/U (1:2)

ChCl/Gly (1:3)

ChCl/EG (1:3)

ChCl/DEG (1:2)

ChCl/TEG (1:3)

ChCl/Fru (2:1)

ChCl/Glc (2:1)

ChCl/PTSA (1:3)

ChCl/MA (1:1)

Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Aspergillus niger, Lentinus tigrinus, Candida cylindracea

ZnCl₂, PTSA and MA DESs had the most toxic effect

Juneidi et al. (2016)

ChCl/Fru/water (5:2:5)

ChCl/Glc/water (5:2:5)

ChCl/Suc/water (4:1:4)

ChCl/Gly/water (1:2:1)

ChCl/malonic acid (1:1)

HelaS3, CaOV3, B16F10, MCF-7

NADESs except malonic acid as HBD are less toxic than DESs

Hayyan et al. (2016)

Choline and geranate (1:2)

M. tuberculosis, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa et al.

The DES is so toxic that it can act as a broad-spectrum antiseptic agent

Zakrewsky et al. (2016)

ChCl/Fru (2:1)

ChCl/Glc (2:1)

DAC/TEG (1:3)

HelaS3, PC3, AGS, A375, MCF-7, WRL-68

The DESs (ChCl/Fru and ChCl/Glc, 98 mM ≤ EC₅₀ ≤ 516 mM) were less toxic than DAC/TEG(34 mM ≤ EC₅₀ ≤ 120 mM)

Mbous et al. (2017)