Proton conducting ionic liquid organization as probed by NMR: self-diffusion coefficients and heteronuclear correlations

The structure and local organization of new proton conducting ionic liquids (PCILs) obtained by reacting alkylamine with various acids were deciphered by complementary 1- and 2-D heteronuclear NMR experiments. One the one hand, PFG NMR yielded the self-diffusion coefficients of the PCIL components (and thus information on their possible concerted translational motions), while on the other hand, 13C, 1H, and 15N, 1H correlation and intermolecular Overhauser experiments gave insight into the nature of protonic species and ion-pairing behavior.