Transitioning from Ionic Liquids to Deep Eutectic Solvents

Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been lately the solvents of choice in a number of processes because they offer a valid alternative to conventional solvents. Despite main interactions in ILs differ from those in DESs (e.g., electrostatic-type in the former and H-bond-type in the latter), these two neoteric solvents are more closely related that appeared and can be seen as the two sides, the face and the cross, of the same coin. Herein, we hypothesized about a way for transitioning from one to the other. In particular, we promoted the transition from 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EMIMCl) to EMIMCl·nAcOH-based DESs by the simple addition of stoichiometric amounts of acetic acid (AcOH) to EMIMCl. ¹H NMR spectroscopy and DSC studies confirmed the occurrence of such a transition. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed the capability of the Cl anion to fully accommodate up to 4 AcOH molecules (e.g., EMIMCl·1AcOH, EMIMCl·2AcOH, EMIMCl·3AcOH, and EMIMCl·4AcOH) without signs of H-bond self-interactions between AcOH molecules. These DESs also exhibited quite different solvent properties, with α and β Kamlet-and-Taft parameters that differed from those of EMIMCl and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIMOAc). Interestingly, excess molar volume and excess viscosity measurements as well as Brillouin spectroscopic experiments indicated that aqueous dilutions of EMIMCl·AcOH-based DESs deviated from ideality as a consequence of the formation of HBs between water molecules and the anion, as observed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy.