Room Temperature Ionic Liquids as Replacements for Conventional Solvents - A Review

Abstract

Room temperature ionic liquids are salts that are liquids at ambient temperature. They are excellent solvents for a broad range of polar organic compounds and they show partial miscibility with aromatic hydrocarbons. Typical room temperature ionic liquids have a stable liquid range of over 300 K and have a very low vapor pressure at room temperature. Ionic liquids that are not hydrolyzed show a wide range of solubility in water. These unique properties have suggested that they might be useful as environmentally benign solvents that could replace volatile organic compounds (VOC). By varying the length and branching of the alkane chains of the cationic core and the anionic precursor, the solvent properties of ionic liquids should be able to be tailored to meet the requirements of specific applications to create an almost infinitely set of "designer solvents". A review of recent applications of ionic liquids is presented along with some results of measurements of liquid-liquid equilibria and partition coefficients with alcohols. The results are compared with predictions based on quantum mechanic calculations.