Mixing schemes in ionic liquid-H2O systems: A thermodynamic study

We studied the hydration characteristics of room-temperature ionic liquids (IL). We experimentally determined the excess chemical potentials, mu(i)(E), the excess partial molar enthalpies, H-i(E), and the excess partial molar entropies S-i(E) in IL-H2O systems at 25 degreesC. The ionic liquids studied were 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim]BF4) and the iodide ([bmim]l). From these data, the excess (integral) molar enthalpy and entropy, H-m(E) and S-m(E), and the IL-IL enthalpic interaction, H-IL-IL(E), were calculated. Using these thermodynamic data, we deduced the mixing schemes, or the "solution structures", of IL-H2O systems. At infinite dilution IL dissociates in H2O, but the subsequent hydration is much weaker than for NaCl. As the concentration of IL increases, [bmim]l ions and the counteranions begin to attract each other up to a threshold mole fraction, x(IL) = 0.015 for [bmim]BF4 and 0.013 for [bmim]l. At still higher mole fractions, IL ions start to organize themselves, directly or in an H2O-Mediated manner. Eventually for x(IL) > 0.5-0.6, IL molecules form clusters of their own kind, as in their pure states. We show tha HI-L-IL, a third derivative of G, provided finer details than H-i(E) and S-i(E) second derivatives, which in turn gave more detailed information than H-m(E) and S-m(E), first derivative quantities.