0) are situated at the top portion and right side of Figs. 2 and 3. The anions such as acetate, methyl carbonate, octanoate, glycinate, alaninate, and lysinate are predicted to dissolve lignin more efficiently when in combination with cations like tetraalkylammonium, tetraalkylphosphonium, and pyridinium. This is due to the fact that effective ILs form strong H-bonds, C‒H…π, and cation‒π interactions with lignin. However, the anions such as triflate, gentisate, histidinate, and bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide have high positive values of ln(γ). The ln(γ) and HE values of lignin in 5670 ILs are provided in Tables S3 and S4. As the alkyl chain length of anion or cation increases, the ln(γ) and HE of lignin were seen to be decreasing. For example, in a comparison between the imidazolium-based cations ([12Dmim]+, [Amim]+, [Emim]+, [Bmim]+, [Hmim]+, and [Omim]+) with all 90 investigated anions, the ln(γ) of lignin decreased (i.e., more negative) as alkyl chain length of the cation increased from [Emim]+ to [Omim]+ (Fig. S3a). A similar observation was made in the case of anions (Fig. S3b). A contrary observation was reported in the literature, where Wang et al.38 reported that the solubility of lignin decreases with increase in the alkyl chain length of cations. This discrepancy may be due to the viscosity of ionic liquids. As the alkyl chain length of cation increases, the viscosity of IL also increased68. This higher viscosity of IL restricts the mass transfer rate of liquids which results in the lowering of lignin solubility. A similar observation was also noticed in our previous studies63, where spermidine and spermine showed stronger interaction with lignin, but results in lower biomass delignification due to their higher viscosity. Therefore, the combination of longer alkyl chain length of both the cation and anion resulted in weaker solvent for lignin solvation as compared to that of the combination of a highly polar and less polar ions. Based on these observations, the ions of IL should obey the following successive criteria: (1) either of the ions should be a good hydrogen bond acceptor or donor, and (b) another ion to be slightly polar (to weakly coordinate with counter ion thereby reduces the cross interactions between anion and cation). According to this thumb rule, the cations such as tetraalkylammonium, tetraalkylphosphonium, and alkylpyridinium are less polar, and the anions such as acetate, methyl carbonate, glycinate, alaninate, and lysinate are highly polar in nature. The interaction between the polar anion and the lignin is energetically much stronger than the interaction between anion and cation, resulting in a high lignin solvation capability./p> + 0.01 e/Å2), H-bond acceptor (red: σ < − 0.01 e/Å2), and H-bond donor (blue: σ > + 0.01 e/Å2) regions (see Fig. 4). The sigma potential, μ(σ), of lignin is negative in both the negative and positive charge density regions (σ < − 0.01 e/Å2 and σ > + 0.01 e/Å2), indicating that lignin has a tendency to interact with both negative and positive polar surfaces of molecule (i.e., H-bond donors and acceptors in the solvent) (Fig. 4a). On the negative screening charge densities side (σ > − 0.01 e/Å2), the σ-potential value of anions is negative (− 1.5 to − 2.4 kcal/mol Å2), implying that anions have more affinity to interact with the positive surface charge density of lignin or cation (i.e., H-bond donors) (Fig. 4a). In contrast, the σ-potential value of anions is positive (0.5–1.0 kcal/mol Å2) in the region of positive screening charge densities (σ > + 0.01 e/Å2), which reflects that the anions lack electron donor surfaces. For cations such as [Ch]+ and [Emim]+, the μ(σ) value is negative in the positive screening charge density side (σ > + 0.01 e/Å2), indicating that [Ch]+ and [Emim]+ cations have higher affinity toward negatively charged surfaces of lignin and anions (Fig. 4). For system composed of lignin and [Ch]+ or [Emim]+-based ILs, the anions are more likely to interact with the cations than lignin since [Ch]+ and [Emim]+ are polar cations with higher tendency to interact with negatively charged surfaces thereby forming stronger electrostatic and hydrogen bondings. Therefore, the logarithmic activity coefficient and excess enthalpy of lignin in such ILs are weaker. However, in the case of [TBA]+, [TBP]+, and [DPrPyrr]+, the cations lack both positive and negative surfaces (positive μ(σ) value), implying these cations have less tendency to interact with anions i.e., the interaction between anion and cation is weaker. Thus, both the anions and cations have higher odds of interacting with lignin, thereby having a stronger interaction with lignin. Anions interacting through electrostatic and H-bonding interactions with lignin and the [TBA]+, [TBP]+, and [DPrPyrr]+ cations interact with lignin through vdW and cation-π interactions./p> 1, the affinity between the IL and lignin is weaker and leads to lower biomass delignification. From the RED point of view, [TBA]+, [TBP]+, and [DprPyrr]+-based ionic liquids had lower RED values of lignin than [Ch]+ and [Emim]+-based ILs. The ILs based on [Ch]+ and [Emim]+ had higher polar and hydrogen-bonded contributions, which is due to the stronger polarity and hydrogen-bonding capability of [Ch]+ and [Emim]+-based ionic liquids. The larger RED values of [Ch]+ and [Emim]+-based ILs are due to the higher polarity and hydrogen bonding contributions, which further leads to stronger interactions between anion and cation of the IL. The stronger anion and cation interactions (Fig. S5) result in higher viscosity (Fig. 5) and weaker solvents for lignin dissolution. The RED ranking of anions with [TBA]+, [TBP]+, and [DprPyrr]+-based cations for lignin dissolution was as follows: [Ala]− > [Ace]− > [Gly]− > [Lys]− > [Val]−./p> [TBA][Val] > [TBP][Ace] > [TBP][Lys] > [Ch][Lys]./p> 14 Å), lignin adopted an extended polymer-like structure, while if the Rg value of lignin is lower than 13 Å, lignin forms collapsed compact conformation which was generally obtained in the water environment86. Representative snapshots of lignin (i.e., coil-like structure) from the simulations in ILs were shown in Fig. S8./p> 0.334, reflective a good solvent in polymer theory88. On the other hand, SASA for a given lignin polymer is largely determined by its molecular weight and variation within SASA values within a trajectory is comparatively smaller than it was for Rg. For a sphere of uniform density, the SASA should increase with the M2/3sphere. The scaling parameter ν > 0.67 (i.e., 0.94), indicating that there is an excess surface area for real lignin polymers relative to an ideal spherical globule87,88. Mass-fractal dimensions α, closer to 1 (i.e., below 2) are "good" solvents while fractal dimensions near 3 or above are "bad/poor" solvents. From the literature, in water, the α value of lignin is greater than 3 and thus water is a poor solvent for lignin dissolution87,89./p>