Ion­ic liq­uids, due to their dif­fer­ent prop­er­ties and their unique char­ac­ter­is­tic of being non-volatile, are con­sid­ered as an ide­al alter­na­tive to volatile organ­ic sol­vents and chem­i­cal indus­tries. Dif­fer­ent types of ion­ic liq­uids have been stud­ied for a while and have attract­ed con­sid­er­able inter­est for use as elec­trolytes in the areas of solar cell, catal­y­sis, super capac­i­tors, organ­ic syn­the­sis etc. With not much atten­tion giv­en to the prepa­ra­tion of ion­ic liq­uids, we’ll give you a fair idea of how they are pre­pared :

Tra­di­tion­al Ion­ic Liquids

Methylim­i­da­zoli­um and pyri­dini­um ions are the start­ing points in the prepa­ra­tion of ion­ic liq­uids. One prepa­ra­tion method includes the use of N-alkylim­i­­da­­zole. In this method, 1-methylim­i­­da­­zole reacts with Butyl Chlo­ride to pro­duce 1-butyl-1-methylim­i­­da­­zoli­um chlo­ride. This method of prepar­ing ion­ic liq­uids is still a hard nut to crack by var­i­ous chem­i­cal com­pa­nies due to its com­plex­i­ty. It is not only expen­sive, but the tox­i­c­i­ty of tra­di­tion­al ion­ic liq­uids is still unde­ter­mined.

Pro­t­ic Ion­ic Liquids

Pro­t­ic ion­ic liq­uids were dis­cov­ered when sci­en­tists found an alter­na­tive way of pro­duc­ing ion­ic liq­uids. Under this method, they used acidic reac­tions with the help of strong acids that act as pro­to­na­tors. Strong acids pos­sess high pro­ton activ­i­ty, which is why, they are now con­sid­ered as the major alter­na­tive to metathe­sis reac­tion. Pro­t­ic ion­ic liq­uids are pre­pared with sul­fu­ric acid reac­tions. 1-methylim­i­­da­­zole reacts with sul­fu­ric acid to pro­duce 1-methylim­i­­da­­zoli­um hydro­gen sul­fate.

Deep Eutec­tic Solvents

Deep Eutec­tic sol­vents are a form of ion­ic liq­uids that are increas­ing­ly receiv­ing inter­est by chem­i­cal indus­tries world­wide. Oth­er sim­i­lar types of ion­ic liq­uids have been pre­pared using a wide range of qua­ter­nary ammo­ni­um salts, out of which the most notable are imi­da­zoli­um cations. Deep Eutec­tic sol­vents are easy to pre­pare. The prepa­ra­tion method involves gen­tly heat­ing and mix­ing of two solids until they melt. Upon cool­ing, these solids con­vert to liq­uids. Deep Eutec­tic sol­vents are increas­ing­ly becom­ing pop­u­lar due to their easy prepa­ra­tion process. Specif­i­cal­ly, choline chlo­ride has received atten­tion as a hydro­gen bond receiv­er for com­plex reac­tions. When Choline Chlo­ride (2-hydrox­­yethyltrimethy­lam­­mo­ni­um chlo­ride) reacts with urea, deep eutec­tic sol­vents are formed. What’s inter­est­ing in this process is how qua­ter­nary ammo­ni­um salts con­vert to liq­uids with com­plex agents, mak­ing eutec­tic sol­vents liq­uid too. Even though tra­di­tion­al ion­ic liq­uids require a com­plex prepa­ra­tion process, you can get high qual­i­ty ion­ic liq­uids Wat­son Inter­na­tion­al – one of the finest chem­i­cal dis­trib­u­tors ! Along with ion­ic liq­uids, we also offer chem­i­cals like cyclo­hexa­ne­di­aminete­traacetic acid, dipalmi­toyl hydrox­ypro­line, Diethyl flu­o­ro­ma­lonate, etc.