Synthesis, characterization, and properties of high-concentration ionic liquid solutions of secondary inorganic salts

IEC 141

Ioanna Ntai, James H. Davis Jr., and Phillip Fox. Department of Chemistry, University of South Alabama, Chemistry 223, Mobile, AL 36688
We report here that, like conventional ethers, ionic liquids containing covalently attached ether groups can solvate wholly inorganic salts such as lithium perchlorate, lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, magnesium triflate and others in concentrations up to (and in some cases exceeding) 5M. These solutions bear a strong conceptual and functional similarity to the widely used catalyst lithium perchlorate etherate, and our findings contrast with recent results by Alfonso and co-workers, who found that such ILs can only poorly dissolve inorganic salts of more highly coordinating anions (e.g., chloride). In this poster, we report on the synthesis, characterization and use in organic synthesis of these low-volatility, highly Lewis acidic species.