Ion­ic liq­uids are salts with a very low melt­ing point i.e. 100○C and com­prise of cations and anions. They have emerged as an envi­ron­men­tal friend­ly alter­na­tive because they are non-volatile sol­vents. Attract­ing sig­nif­i­cant atten­tion from dif­fer­ent chem­i­cal com­pa­nies, ion­ic liq­uids are known as new nov­el chem­i­cal agents. They are quite dif­fer­ent as com­pared to oth­er chem­i­cal ele­ments due to these unique prop­er­ties :

Low Melt­ing Point

Ever tried melt­ing table salt ? You can’t melt it in a kitchen because they have a melt­ing point of 801○C ! Table salt can eas­i­ly be dis­solved in water, but can­not be melt­ed. This is due to the pres­ence of cations and anions in salt. They pack well to each oth­er, lose their mobil­i­ty and crys­tal­lize. How­ev­er, in ion­ic liq­uids, cations and anions are poor­ly coor­di­nat­ed. They do not pack, keep mov­ing around, mak­ing the sol­vent liq­uid.

They do not Evaporate

Typ­i­cal sol­vents, such as water boil and evap­o­rate, but ion­ic liq­uids remain liq­uid even when boiled at more than 400○C. This occurs because ion­ic liq­uids com­prise of charged cations and anions, which are held togeth­er by strong coulom­bic inter­ac­tions. Break­ing this bond is dif­fi­cult, thus evap­o­ra­tion does not take place. On the oth­er hand, typ­i­cal sol­vents com­prise of neu­tral mol­e­cules which are held togeth­er by weak forces such as hydro­gen bond. These bonds are bro­ken eas­i­ly which makes mol­e­cules evap­o­rate.

Dis­solve dif­fer­ent Mate­ri­als and Chemicals

Cations and anions can be mod­i­fied accord­ing to dif­fer­ent chem­i­cal struc­tures and impart var­i­ous prop­er­ties to the ion­ic liq­uids. Ion­ic liq­uids can be used to dis­solve cel­lu­lose, a biopoly­mer in wood and plants. Oth­er biopoly­mers such as lignin and chitin can be dis­solved using ion­ic liq­uids. With the help of chem­i­cal mod­i­fi­ca­tion and cast­ing new poly­mers from the solu­tion, new bio-derived mate­ri­als can be formed. Addi­tion­al­ly, waste of wood and paper can also be mod­i­fied and use­ful mate­ri­als can be formed.

Can Con­duct Electricity

Pure water does not con­duct elec­tric­i­ty due to lack of ions. With pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive ions both, ion­ic liq­uids car­ry charge and can be clas­si­fied as elec­trolytes – liq­uids that con­duct elec­tric­i­ty. With the help of elec­tro­chem­i­cal means, ion­ic liq­uids can be used in dis­solv­ing and recov­er­ing pre­cious met­als from elec­tron­ic waste. If you are in need of this pop­u­lar chem­i­cal, get in touch with us ! We, at Wat­son Inter­na­tion­al ensure that you get high qual­i­ty chem­i­cals, such as tipe­pi­dine hiben­zate, boc hydrazine, Methylpen­tanoic acid, etc. for your indus­try use.