Molecular interactions in the ionic liquid emim acetate and water binary mixtures probed via NMR spin relaxation and exchange spectroscopy

Abstract

Interactions of ionic liquids (ILs) with water are of great interest for many potential IL applications. 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (emim) acetate, in particular, has shown interesting interactions with water including hydrogen bonding and even chemical exchange. Previous studies have shown the unusual behavior of emim acetate when in the presence of 0.43 mole fraction of water, and a combination of NMR techniques is used herein to investigate the emim acetate–water system and the unusual behavior at 0.43 mole fraction of water. NMR relaxometry techniques are used to describe the effects of water on the molecular motion and interactions of emim acetate with water. A discontinuity is seen in nuclear relaxation behavior at the concentration of 0.43 mole fraction of water, and this is attributed to the formation of a hydrogen bonded network. EXSY measurements are used to determine the exchange rates between the H2 emim proton and water, which show a complex dependence on the concentration of the mixture. The findings support and expand our previous results, which suggested the presence of an extended hydrogen bonding network in the emim acetate–water system at concentrations close to 0.50 mole fraction of H₂O.