Structural Features of the [C4mim][Cl] Ionic Liquid and Its Mixtures with Water: Insight from a 1H NMR Experimental and QM/MD Study

Deep Eutectic Solvents Meet Non-Aqueous Cosolvents: A Modeling and Simulation Perspective-A Tutorial Review

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have recently gained attention due to their tailorable properties and versatile applications in several fields, including green chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and energy storage. Their tunable properties can be enhanced by mixing DESs with cosolvents such as ethanol, acetonitrile, and water. DESs are structurally complex, and molecular modeling techniques, including quantum mechanical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations, play a crucial role in understanding their intricate behavior when mixed with cosolvents. While the most studied cosolvent is water, in some applications, even a small content of water is considered a contaminant, for example, when the processes of interest require dry conditions. Only quite recently have modeling studies begun to focus on DES mixed with cosolvents other than water. This tutorial provides the first comprehensive overview of these studies. It highlights how modern molecular modeling increases our understanding of their structural organization, transport properties, phase behavior, and thermodynamic properties. Additionally, case studies and recent developments in the field are discussed along with the challenges and future directions in molecular modeling of DES in cosolvent mixtures. Overall, this review offers valuable insights into the molecular-level understanding of DES-cosolvent systems and their implications for designing novel solvent mixtures with tailored properties for various applications.

Evolution of Water State in the "Ionic Liquid EAN/Al(NO3)3/H2O" System Depending on Temperature and Aluminum Salt Concentration

Although lithium salts are the most successful materials for electrochemical devices so far, there is growing interest in electrolytes containing divalent and trivalent salts, which are characterized by a much higher energy density than lithium systems. For this purpose, the physical and chemical properties of solutions of aluminum nitrate in ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) were studied in a number of works. However, it was demonstrated by the 1H NMR method that solutions contain water (from aluminum crystallohydrates) in the first solvated shell of the Al3+ cation even after usual drying procedures, and this solvated water cannot be directly detected by the standard Karl Fischer analysis. The goal of this work is to check the possibility/impossibility of removing water from the "Ionic Liquid EAN/Al(NO3)3/H2O" system and to investigate the evolution of water state in the system depending on temperature and aluminum salt concentration. To solve the problem, the NMR spectroscopy of 1H, 27Al, and 14N nuclei was used. To interpret the NMR spectra, quantum-chemical calculations of electron shielding constants for the 1H and 27Al nuclei in mixed cation-anion complexes were involved.

Do Electrostatics Control the Diffusive Dynamics of Solitary Water? NMR and MD Studies of Water Translation and Rotation in Dipolar and Ionic Solvents

NMR-based measurements of the diffusion coefficients and rotation times of solitary water and benzene at 300 K are reported in a diverse collection of 13 conventional organic solvents and 10 imidazolium ionic liquids. Proton chemical shifts of water are found to be correlated to water OH-stretching frequencies, confirming the importance of electrostatic interactions in these shifts. However, the influence of magnetic interactions in aromatic solvents renders chemical shifts a less reliable indicator of electrostatics. Diffusion coefficients (DB) and rotational correlation times (τB) of benzene in the solvents examined are accurately described as functions of viscosity (η) by DB ∝ η-0.81 and τB ∝ η0.64. Literature values of DB and τB in alkane and normal alcohols, which were not included among the solvents studied here, are systematically faster than predicted by these correlations, indicating that factors beyond solvent viscosity play a role in determining the friction on benzene. In contrast to benzene, water diffusion and rotation are poorly described in terms of viscosity alone, even in the dipolar and ionic solvents measured here. The present data and the substantial literature data already available on dilute water diffusion show a systematic dependence of DW on solvent polarity among isoviscous solvents. The aspect of solvent polarity most relevant to water dynamics is the ability of a solvent to accept hydrogen bonds from water, as conveniently quantified by the frequency of water's OH stretching band, ΔνOH. The friction on translation, ζtr = kBT/DW, and rotation, ζrot = kBTτW, are both well correlated by functions of the form ζ(η, ΔνOH) = a1ηa2 exp (a3ΔνOH), where the ai are adjustable parameters. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal a strong coupling between electrostatic and nonelectrostatic water-solvent interactions, which makes it impossible to dissect the friction on water into additive dielectric and hydrodynamic components. Simulations also provide a tentative explanation for the unusual form of the correlating function ζ(η, ΔνOH), at least in the case of ζrot.

The State of Water in "Ionic Liquid [bmim]Cl/AlCl3/H2O" Systems

The unique physical and chemical properties of ionic liquids (ILs) determine their numerous applications in "green" chemistry and material science. Recently, systems based on ILs have been considered to be promising for use in a new generation of electrochemical devices. The results of a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study of the microstructure of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (IL)/water mixtures in the presence of Al3+ cations are presented. For the first time, the splitting of spectral lines of water in such systems has been recorded. Comparing the 1H and 27Al NMR data, we have detected the existence of different solvate complexes of Al3+ with Cl- and estimated the characteristic times of exchange processes. For the system under study, a model of the Al3+ cation environment and its evolution with temperature and water content has been described. Quantum-chemical calculations have been performed to substantiate the model.

Solvent Effects on the 1 H-NMR Chemical Shifts of Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

The 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H-NMR) spectrum is a useful tool for characterizing the hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) interactions in ionic liquids (ILs). As the main hydrogen bond (H-bond) donor of imidazolium-based ILs, the chemical shift (δH2 ) of the proton in the 2-position of the imidazolium ring (H2) exhibits significant and complex solvents, concentrations and anions dependence. In the present work, based on the dielectric constants (ϵ) and Kamlet-Taft (KT) parameters of solvents, we identified that the δH2 are dominated by the solvents polarity and the competitive H-bonding interactions between cations and anions or solvents. Besides, the solvents effects on δH2 are understood by the structure of ILs in solvents: 1) In diluted solutions of inoizable solvents, ILs exist as free ions and the cations will form H-bond with solvents, resulting in δH2 being independent with anions but positively correlated with βS . 2) In diluted solutions of non-ionzable solvents, ILs exist as contact ion-pairs (CIPs) and H2 will form H-bond with anions. Since non-ionizable solvents hardly influence the H-bonding interactions between H2 and anions, the δH2 are not related to βS but positively correlated with βIL .

Exploring the impact of sodium salts on hydrotropic solubilization

Some ionic liquids (ILs) were shown to display a strong ability to enhance the solubility of phenolic compounds through hydrotropy. However, evidence shows that salt ions in hydrotropic aqueous solutions may change the behavior of molecules by promoting possible interactions between the components of the system, thus causing changes in solubility. Herein, we study the impact of sodium salt anions on the hydrotropic dissolution of syringic acid using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C4mim]Cl) as a hydrotrope, with a focus on dicyanamide Na[N(CN)2] and thiocyanate Na[SCN] salts. Dynamic light scattering, Raman spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to investigate how the mixture of IL-salts affects the solvation. The results obtained show that [C4mim]Cl is able to increase the solubility of syringic acid 80-fold. Despite their structural similarities, the presence of Na[N(CN)2] or Na[SCN] in an aqueous solution of [C4mim]Cl induced opposite solubility trends. The addition of Na[N(CN)2] promotes a higher ability to solubilize syringic acid than in the corresponding IL system due to a pH buffering effect, resulting in the deprotonation of the solute. The addition of Na[SCN], on the other hand, induces a relative decrease in syringic acid solubilization at higher concentrations of ILs due to the negative contribution of the NaCl formed by anion-exchange. These results emphasise the often overlooked pH contribution provided by ILs for biomolecule solubilisation whilst providing experimental insights into the structure of aqueous solutions of ionic liquids and the role it plays in the formation of IL-salt aggregates.

MD simulations explain the excess molar enthalpies in pseudo-binary mixtures of a choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvent with water or methanol

The addition of molecular liquid cosolvents to choline chloride (ChCl)-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) is increasingly investigated for reducing the inherently high bulk viscosities of the latter, which represent a major obstacle for potential industrial applications. The molar enthalpy of mixing, often referred to as excess molar enthalpy HE—a property reflecting changes in intermolecular interactions upon mixing—of the well-known ChCl/ethylene glycol (1:2 molar ratio) DES mixed with either water or methanol was recently found to be of opposite sign at 308.15 K: Mixing of the DES with water is strongly exothermic, while methanol mixtures are endothermic over the entire mixture composition range. Knowledge of molecular-level liquid structural changes in the DES following cosolvent addition is expected to be important when selecting such “pseudo-binary” mixtures for specific applications, e.g., solvents. With the aim of understanding the reason for the different behavior of selected DES/water or methanol mixtures, we performed classical MD computer simulations to study the changes in intermolecular interactions thought to be responsible for the observed HE sign difference. Excess molar enthalpies computed from our simulations reproduce, for the first time, the experimental sign difference and composition dependence of the property. We performed a structural analysis of simulation configurations, revealing an intriguing difference in the interaction modes of the two cosolvents with the DES chloride anion: water molecules insert between neighboring chloride anions, forming ionic hydrogen-bonded bridges that draw the anions closer, whereas dilution of the DES with methanol results in increased interionic separation. Moreover, the simulated DES/water mixtures were found to contain extended hydrogen-bonded structures containing water-bridged chloride pair arrangements, the presence of which may have important implications for solvent applications.

Insights into cation-anion hydrogen bonding in mesogenic ionic liquids: an NMR study

The hydrogen-bonding interaction is studied in imidazolium-based mesogenic ionic liquids in their isotropic, smectic, and solid phases and in a nanoconfined state by proton solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In the smectic phase, the more basic anions form stronger hydrogen bonds. A small decrease of H-bonding in the mesophase with respect to that in the isotropic phase is associated with the presence of a layered assembly with high orientational order and limited conformational freedom. Hydrogen bond strength is not sensitive to the cation structural modification as long as the aprotic nature of the material is preserved. The strong cation-anion hydrogen bonding observed in the smectic phases provides direct support for the presence of ionic sublayers which form in ionic liquid crystals regardless of the location and alignment of the charged group in the cation, particularly irrespective of whether the charged group occupies a terminal or central position in the cation structure. A comparison of the results obtained in isotropic, liquid-crystalline, and solid states shows that in the bulk materials the dynamic state of ions ranging from high reorientational and translational freedom to partial orientation and positional order to full immobilization, respectively, has no strong impact on the cation-anion hydrogen bond strength. On the other hand, nanoconfinement of ionic liquid crystals led to hydrogen bond disruption due to competing interactions of anions with a solid interface.