Hydrogen bonds in ionic liquids revisited: (35/37)Cl NMR studies of deuterium isotope effects in 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride

Detailed knowledge of the structure, dynamics, and interionic interactions of ionic liquids (ILs) is critical to understand their physicochemical properties. In this letter, we show that deuterium isotope effects on the chloride ion 35/37Cl NMR signal represent a useful tool in the study of interionic hydrogen bonds in imidazolium chloride ILs. Sizable Delta35/37Cl(H,D) values obtained for the model system 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C4mim]Cl) upon deuteriation of the imidazolium C-2 and C-2,4,5 positions, of nearly 1 and 2 ppm, respectively, show that the approach can readily identify and differentiate Cl...H hydrogen bonds between the anion and cation. Our study is one of a few examples in which hydrogen-bonding in ILs has been investigated using deuterium isotope effects and, to our knowledge, the only one employing 35/37Cl NMR to detect these interactions. The methodology described could be easily extended to the study of other systems bearing NMR-active nuclei.     

Geometric Matching Principle for Adsorption Selectivity of Ionic Liquids: A Simple Method into the Fascinating World of Shape‐Controlled Chemistry

Ionic liquids (ILs) possess effective functions in controlling the phase and morphology of nanomaterials. However, it is still unclear how ILs affect the morphology control and what the origin of adsorption selectivity of ILs is on different crystal facets. It is a challenge to develop a simple method to select the suitable kinds of ILs for achieving the controllable synthesis of nanomaterials with designable shape. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were combined with experiment to study the interaction mechanism between ILs and crystal facets. An important relationship is proposed, named as the geometric matching principle, in which the adsorption site of substrate should not only need to meet the space requirement for interionic stacking of ILs, but also needs to maximize the interaction between adsorbed ILs and substrate. This new finding is meaningful for prediction of the adsorption selectivity of ILs and clarification of their shape‐controlled chemistry.     

离子液与蛋白质和核酸相互作用的研究

离子液因其具有良好的生物兼容性和独特的理化性质,近年来在生物催化和生物大分子蛋白质与核酸的分离分析领域得到广泛应用。离子液与生物大分子相互作用的研究是离子液相关理论与应用研究的基础,有关离子液与蛋白质和核酸相互作用的机理研究受到关注。本文简要介绍了常用离子液的分类,离子液与蛋白质分子作用的机理,离子液与核酸分子作用的机理,以及离子液在酶催化反应、生物分子分离、生物分子电化学分析和毛细管电泳分析中的应用,并主要综述了近年的相关研究和应用进展。     

离子液体谱学性质和热力学数据关联的新进展

离子液体的性质是其微观结构和相互作用的外在表现,与其应用密切相关.谱学手段能从分子水平上探测离子液体的微观环境和相互作用,近年来在定量关联或预测离子液体宏观性质方面发挥着越来越重要的作用.本文着重概述了红外光谱(IR)、拉曼光谱(Raman)、核磁共振波谱(NMR)和电子顺磁波谱(ESR)等常见谱学手段在定量关联离子液体及其溶液体系宏观性质方面的研究进展以及发展方向.     

Highly Luminescent and Color‐Tunable Salicylate Ionic Liquids

High quantum yields of up to 40.5 % can be achieved in salicylate‐bearing ionic liquids. A range of these ionic liquids have been synthesized and their photoluminescent properties studied in detail. The differences noted can be related back to the structure of the ionic liquid cation and possible interionic interactions. It is found that shifts of emission, particularly in the pyridinium‐based ionic liquids, can be related to cation–anion pairing interactions. Facile and controlled emission color mixing is demonstrated through combining different ILs, with emission colors ranging from blue to yellow.     

Multi-Interactions in Ionic Liquids for Natural Product Extraction

Natural products with a variety of pharmacological effects are important sources for commercial drugs, and it is very crucial to develop effective techniques to selectively extract and isolate bioactive natural components from the plants against the background of sustainable development. Ionic liquids (ILs) are a kind of designable material with unique physicochemical properties, including good thermal stability, negligible vapor pressure, good solvation ability, etc. ILs have already been used in pharmaceuticals for extraction, purification, drug delivery, etc. It has been reported that multi-interactions, like hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions, play important roles in the extraction of bioactive components from the plants. In this review, recent progress in the understanding of scientific essence of hydrogen bonding, the special interaction, in ILs was summarized. The extraction of various natural products, one important area in pharmaceutical, by conventional and functional ILs as well as the specific roles of multi-interactions in this process were also reviewed. Moreover, problems existing in bioactive compound extraction by ILs and the future developing trends of this area are given, which might be helpful for scientists, especially beginners, in this field.     

Origin of low melting point of ionic liquids: dominant role of entropy

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts with an extremely low melting point. Substantial efforts have been made to address their low melting point from the enthalpic standpoint (i.e. interionic interactions). However, this question is still open. In this study, we report our findings that entropic (large fusion entropy), rather than enthalpic, contributions are primarily responsible for lowering the melting point in many cases, based on a large thermodynamic dataset. We have established a computational protocol using molecular dynamics simulations to decompose fusion entropy into kinetic (translational, rotational, and intramolecular vibrational) and structural (conformational and configurational) terms and successfully applied this approach for two representatives of ILs and NaCl. It is revealed that large structural contribution, particularly configurational entropy in the liquid state, plays a deterministic role in the large fusion entropy and consequently the low melting point of the ILs.

Large structural entropy makes salts liquid at room temperature.     

Hydrogen bonds: a structural insight into ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted intensive attention in academia and industry due to their unique properties and potential applications. Nowadays, much interest is focused on finding out what is the main force that determines the properties of ionic liquids. Intuitively like NaCl, in high-temperature molten salt (HTMS) the electrostatic Coulomb force is regarded as the dominant factor that determines the behaviors of ILs. However, a large amount of evidence indicates that such a molten-salt-based simplified explanation is not consistent with the corresponding experimental results. Besides the Coulomb force, the hydrogen bond is another important noncovalent interaction in the IL and is closely related to some important properties and applications, as suggested in some new research results. Therefore in this review, we present results concerning the hydrogen bond in ILs, from the perspective of experiment and calculation, to shed light on its effects and roles. The deep insights into structure, in particular the hydrogen bonds, can provide us with a rational design for the new ILs to fulfill the demands in some complicated chemical processes.     

Zn-MOF-74负载ILs的结构稳定性和吸附研究

离子液体（ILs）作为一种新型绿色溶剂应用广泛,以多孔材料MOFs作为支撑体负载ILs,不仅有望降低离子液体的高粘性,而且有助于提高材料的吸附分离能力,但要如何选择适合MOFs体系来负载ILs是一个难点。本文采用密度泛函理论（DFT）,利用VASP和Gaussian 09 程序对负载IL（[Emim][BF4]）的Zn-MOF-74的结构稳定性进行系统研究,从几何结构、电荷分析、相互作用等方面将Zn-MOF-74@[Emim][BF4]复合体系与[Emim][BF4]和Zn-MOF-74比较分析。计算结果表明,负载[Emim][BF4]的Zn-MOF-74体系中,IL的阴离子与Zn-MOF-74的开放金属位点Zn发生强相互作用, Zn、F1原子之间因库仑力成键,造成了MOF-74配位构型的改变。IL的负载扰乱了Zn-MOF-74结构的对称性,增强了离子间相互作用。Zn-MOF-74 @[Emim][BF4]复合体系形变过程伴随着电荷转移,其吸附能为-1.032 eV,绘制的差分电荷以及相互作用图验证MOF和IL之间发生了化学吸附。进一步探讨负载离子液体的Zn-MOF-74吸附能力,研究了CO2在复合体系中吸附作用机制。     

Non‐Ideal Mixing Behaviour of Hydrogen Bonding in Mixtures of Protic Ionic Liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) attract interest in science and technology as a result of their unique properties. Binary and ternary mixtures of ILs significantly increase the number of possible cation/anion combinations, resulting in targeted physical and chemical properties. In this work, we study the mixing behaviour of two protic ILs: triethyl ammonium methylsulfonate [Et₃NH][CH₃SO₃] and triethylammonium triflate [Et₃NH][CF₃SO₃]. We find a characteristic deviation from ideal mixing by means of low‐frequency infrared spectroscopy. By using molecular dynamics simulations, we explain this behaviour as being the result of different strengths of anion/cation hydrogen bonding. This non‐ideality of non‐random H‐bond mixing is also reflected in macroscopic properties such as the viscosity. Mixing suitable ILs may, thus, result in new ILs with targeted physical properties.     

Ionic liquids in sample preparation

Due to their unique properties, their good extractabilities for various target analytes, and the fact that many compounds are highly soluble in them, room-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) are used as promising alternatives to the traditional organic solvents employed in sample preparation. ILs have been used as extraction solvents for a wide range of analytes, from environmental contaminates to biomacromolecules and nanomaterials, and as dissolution solvents for various detection techniques. In this paper, the main applications of ILs in sample preparation are reviewed, and the problems and challenges in this area are described.     

Effect of water on the molecular structure and arrangement of nitrile-functionalized ionic liquids

Water changes the physical properties of ionic liquids (ILs). In this paper, the effect of water on ILs is investigated at the molecular level. The molecular structure and arrangement of 1-butyronitrile-3-methylimidazolium halide, in the presence and absence of the intruded water molecule, have been elucidated by single-crystal X-ray crystallography and near-infrared Raman spectroscopy. Water molecule is found to change the conformation of the n-butyronitrile chain of the cation. The hydrogen bonding interaction between the anion and water molecule, leading to loose molecular packing, is most likely to be responsible for the change. Distinct molecular structures and arrangements of ILs with and without water molecule have been presented here for the first time. As the unique properties of ILs are related to their structures and molecular arrangements, the presence of water, wanted or unwanted, must be carefully examined in any kind of IL research and applications.     

Inorganic materials from ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) can add value to many chemical processes. The electrochemistry and the (physical) organic chemistry communities in particular have extensively studied the structure, properties, and reactivities of various ILs and reactions therein. Inorganic and materials chemists are the newest addition to the IL community: over a number of years, various approaches to the fabrication of inorganic solids with unprecedented and sometimes unique structures and properties have been reported. This article summarizes the state of this particular sub-field of IL research and highlights a few promising approaches that not only reproduce conventional synthesis in ILs, but that provide pathways towards new, possibly unknown, inorganics with advantageous properties that cannot (or only with great difficulty) be made via conventional processes.     

Ionic liquid-alkane association in dilute solutions

Enthalpies and entropies of transfer were measured by gas chromatography for dilute solutions of a homologous series of eight even n-alkanes (from octane to docosane) into six different ionic liquids (ILs) (namely, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, bromide, iodide, triflate and hexafluorophosphate; plus N-butylmethylpyridinium bis {(trifluoromethyl) sulfonyl}-imide) over the 80–150 °C temperature range, all ILs being in the liquid state. Over a narrow concentration range, the entropic change may be consistent with a solvophobic association model of n-alkanes in ILs. A very simple model is proposed to account for the thermodynamic data. This approach can be used to approximate interionic distances and possible dielectric constants for ILs. Although the model may have some use in dilute alkane-IL solutions, more sophisticated models, particularly for the enthalpic contributions, are desirable.     

Insight into the cation–anion interaction in 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium lactate ionic liquid

In order to deepen the understanding of cation–anion interaction in ionic liquids (ILs), the structure and interionic interaction of 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium lactate ([tmg][L]) ion pair, including stable configuration, hydrogen bond, frontier molecular orbital, electron density, ion interaction energy and charge transfer, are studied by using ab initio calculations. It is found that more charge-localized character of [tmg][L], especially the C1 carbocation on [tmg]⁺, and the intermolecular –NH₂-associated hydrogen bonds can substantially increase the cation–anion interaction, the interaction energy is 65.3–109.3 kJ/mol higher than that of 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ILs. It is also found that the frontier molecular orbitals, i.e., the HOMO, HOMO + 1 of [L]⁻ and the LUMO, LUMO + 1 of [tmg]⁺, can effectively interact and more charges are transferred between cation and anion. Based on the above results, the physical property of ILs is discussed.     

Binding Gibbs energy of ionic liquids to calf thymus DNA: a fluorescence spectroscopy study

The binding constants and binding Gibbs energies of [C(n)mim]Br (n = 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) and [C(4)mim][BF(4)] to calf thymus DNA-D1501 have been determined by the fluorescence measurements of the pyrene probe. It was found that values of the binding Gibbs energy decrease linearly with the increase of alkyl chain length of the ILs. Based on this observation, Gibbs energies for both the interaction between DNA and -CH(2)- of the ILs and the interaction between DNA and the cationic head group of the ILs have been reported. The result suggests that electrostatic interaction between DNA and the cationic head group of the ILs is predominant for the binding of the ILs with DNA although contribution from the non-electrostatic interaction between DNA and the alkyl chain of the ILs increases with increasing alkyl chain length of the ILs. The information obtained here may have application in the design of novel ILs-based DNA extraction/separation systems.     

Novel One-step Preparation of Functional Ionic Liquids Using Epoxides as Alkylation Reagents

Owing to their unique chemical and physical properties, ionic liquids (ILs) have received focus attention for application as solvent alternatives. ILs can be used in place of organic solvents in synthesis, catalysis, electrochem istry and liquid/liquid extractions. The commonly reported ILs have relied on pyridinium or imidazolium cations bearing simple alkyl groups.     

离子液体与生物大分子相互作用研究进展

离子液体作为一类新型绿色溶剂,因其独特的理化性质,被广泛应用于催化、有机合成、分离富集和电化学等领域。其中,离子液体在生物大分子的分离纯化、催化和降解方面显示出良好的应用前景,成为研究的热点领域之一。本文从离子液体与生物大分子的本质关系出发,对离子液体在DNA和蛋白质的分离纯化、酶的活性稳定性和天然纤维素溶解等过程中与生物大分子之间的相互作用进行了综述。     

Organometallic Ionic Liquids Containing Sandwich Complexes: Molecular Design,Physical Properties,and Chemical Reactivities

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts with low melting points and are useful as electrolytes and solvents. We have developed ILs containing cationic metal complexes, which form a family of functional liquids that exhibit unique physical properties and chemical reactivities originating from metal complexes. Our study explores the liquid chemistry in the field of coordination chemistry, where solid-state chemistry is currently the main focus. This review describes the molecular design, physical properties, and reactivities of organometallic ILs containing sandwich or half-sandwich complexes. This paper mainly covers stimuli-responsive ILs, whose magnetic properties, solvent polarities, colors, or structures change by the application of external fields, such as light, heat, and magnetic fields, or by reaction with coordinating molecules.