γ-Radiolysis of Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: An EPR Spin-Trapping Study

Improvement on the Radiation Stability of Multi-scale Supramolecular Assembly in Ionic Liquid-Based Extraction

The multi-scale supramolecular assembly (MSSA)-based extraction strategy with hydroxyl-functionalized ionic liquid (IL) is promising in the separation of metal ions from radioactive environments for which a comprehensive understanding toward the radiation stability of the MSSA system is necessary. Herein, we report on the analyses of the radiation stability of MSSA in extraction, especially the adopted ILs 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide (IL-1) and 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2,3-dimethylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide (IL-2), by UV-vis, 1H NMR, and ESI-HRMS. It was found that the macroscopic assembly (MA) sphere could not be formed after γ irradiation on the extraction system with IL-1. On the contrary, the trisubstituted IL-2 instead of the disubstituted IL-1 remarkably improved the radiation stability of the MSSA system to guarantee the formation of the MA sphere. The high extraction efficiency could be kept, and the mechanism of such an improvement was revealed.

Predicting Degradation Mechanisms in Lithium Bistriflimide "Water-In-Salt" Electrolytes For Aqueous Batteries

Aqueous solutions are crucial to most domains in biology and chemistry, including in energy fields such as catalysis and batteries. Water-in-salt electrolytes (WISEs), which extend the stability of aqueous electrolytes in rechargeable batteries, are one example. While the hype for WISEs is huge, commercial WISE-based rechargeable batteries are still far from reality, and there remain several fundamental knowledge gaps such as those related to their long-term reactivity and stability. Here, we propose a comprehensive approach to accelerating the study of WISE reactivity by using radiolysis to exacerbate the degradation mechanisms of concentrated LiTFSI-based aqueous solutions. We find that the nature of the degradation species depends strongly on the molality of the electrolye, with degradation routes driven by the water or the anion at low or high molalities, respectively. The main aging products are consistent with those observed by electrochemical cycling, yet radiolysis also reveals minor degradation species, providing a unique glimpse of the long-term (un)stability of these electrolytes.

Solvent-free synthesis of nitrone-containing template as a chemosensor for selective detection of Cu(II) in water

A state-of-the-art method was developed for repurposing nitrone-containing compounds in the chemosensory field, the ability of the designed molecules to chelate metal cations was evaluated, and their unprecedented solubility in water was confirmed. A facile, rapid, and solvent-free method of synthesizing small molecular mass chemosensors was developed by using a modulative α-aryl-N-aryl nitrone template. α-(Z)-Imidazol-4-ylmethylen-N-phenyl nitrone (Nit1) and α-(Z)-2-pyridyl-N-phenyl nitrone (Nit2) were prepared in 15 min, isolated in less than 60 min with ca. 90% yield, and screened against nine metal cations. Nit1 is a small-molecular-mass compound (188 g mol^-1) that is water-soluble and has specificity for sensing Cu²⁺ with an association constant of K = 1.53 × 10¹⁰ and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.06 ppm. These properties make Nit1 a competitive chemosensor for the detection of Cu²⁺ in aqueous solution. The nitrone-containing template used in this study is a step forward for new and small chemosensory entities.