(181y) Binary SLE of Lipidic Ionic Liquid Systems

Lipidic ionic liquids are a class of ionic liquids characterized by the inclusion of large, nonpolar groups in the structure of the ionic liquids, typically including an aspect of structural asymmetry to decrease the melting point.  These species were first described by our group in 2009 and since we have expanded the original class of compounds, 1-methyl-3-alkylimidazolium bistriflimides with unsaturations in the alkyl chain, to include long chains with branches, ether groups and thioethers as well as pyridinium and ammonium-based lipidic ionic liquids.  We have focused much of our recent efforts on the synthesis and characterization of species containing long chains with thioether groups, synthetically obtained through the use of thiol-ene “click chemistry.”

In addition to utilizing these species as solvents for separations and reactions, we are interested in the thermophysical properties and phase behavior of mixtures of lipidic ionic liquids with other ionic liquids and with molecular species. The knowledge from these studies will be valuable in understanding where lipidic ionic liquid may be of practical use as additives in other ionic liquids and also in understanding how they may be used for selective extraction of natural lipids from biological substrates.   In this work we describe the solid/liquid equilibrium of mixture of these ionic liquids with each other and with molecular species.