Influence of water on the orientation of cations at the surface of a room-temperature ionic liquid: A sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopic study

COLL 48

Steven Baldelli and Selimar Rivera. Department of Chemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204
Sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy was used to determine the orientation of the cations in a room-temperature ionic liquid at the air-liquid interface. The ionic liquid studied was 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis-trifluoromethylsulfonimide, [BMIM]+[imide]-. The orientation of the cation, [BMIM]+, was studied as a function of water pressure in the vapor over the range of 10-5 to 200 Torr. At water pressures below 10-4 Torr, the imidazolium ring was oriented parallel to the surface plane. On increasing the water pressure to above 10-4 Torr, the imidazolium ring tipped up from the surface with an angle along the surface normal of 40-55°. No water signal was observed in the spectra at the water pressures studied here. Results at the air-liquid interface are compared with results at the solid-liquid interface.