Pyrene Fluorescence To Probe a Lithium Chloride-Added (Choline Chloride + Urea) Deep Eutectic Solvent

Correlation of solute diffusion with dynamic viscosity in lithium salt-added (choline chloride + glycerol) deep eutectic solvents

Due to their favorable physicochemical properties, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are finding increased use in chemistry. Metal salt-added DESs are currently being investigated for their potential applications in electrochemistry as a replacement for organic electrolytes. Insights into solute diffusion in salt-added DESs, in this context, are of the utmost importance. Solute diffusion in a LiCl-added DES composed of the H-bond acceptor choline chloride and the H-bond donor glycerol in a 1 : 2 mole ratio, named glyceline, is assessed as a function of temperature and LiCl concentration. For relative translational diffusion, the fluorophore-quencher pair of pyrene-nitromethane is used, whereas for rotational diffusion a fluorescent anisotropic rotor, perylene, is selected. The fluorescence quenching of pyrene by nitromethane was found to be purely dynamic in nature. The estimated bimolecular quenching rate constant (kq) exhibits excellent adherence to the Stokes-Einstein relation, suggesting relative translational diffusion of the solute to be controlled by the dynamic viscosity of the LiCl-added glyceline solution. The rotational reorientation time (θ) of the rotor perylene is also found to scale with dynamic viscosity and obey the Stokes-Einstein relation satisfactorily. Linear correlation between θ and dynamic viscosity (η) improves for glyceline solutions with fixed LiCl concentrations hinting at the possible change in the hydrodynamic volume with LiCl concentration within the DES. Control of rotational diffusion of the solute by the dynamic viscosity is established nonetheless. The effect of earlier reported micro- and/or nano-heterogeneities within salt-added DES systems on solute diffusion dynamics is found to be minimal. The work highlights DESs in offering a solubilizing medium for solutes where the diffusion dynamics are simply controlled by the dynamic viscosity.

Solvation Structure, Dynamics, and Charge Transfer Kinetics of Cu2+ and Cu+ in Choline Chloride Ethylene Glycol Electrolytes

Experimental measurements and classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to study electrolytes containing CuCl₂ and CuCl salts in mixtures of choline chloride (ChCl) and ethylene glycol (EG). The study focused on the concentration of 100 mM of both CuCl₂ and CuCl with the ratio of ChCl/EG varied from 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, to 1:5. It was found that the Cu²⁺ and Cu⁺ have different solvation environments in their first solvation shell. Cu²⁺ is coordinated by both Cl^- anions and EG molecules, whereas Cu⁺ is only solvated by EG. However, both Cu²⁺ and Cu⁺ show strong interactions with their second solvation shells, which include both Cl^- anions and EG molecules. Considering both the first and second solvation shells, the concentrations of Cu²⁺ and Cu⁺ that have various coordination numbers in each solution were calculated and were found to correlate qualitatively with the exchange current density trends reported in previous experiments of Cu²⁺ reduction to Cu⁺. This finding makes a connection between atomic solvation structure observed in MD simulations and redox reaction kinetics measured in electrochemical experiments, thus revealing the significance of the solvation environment of reduced and oxidized species for electrokinetics in deep eutectic solvents.

Water-Induced Restructuring of the Surface of a Deep Eutectic Solvent

We study the molecular-scale structure of the surface of Reline, a DES made from urea and choline chloride, using heterodyne-detected vibrational sum frequency generation (HD-VSFG). Reline absorbs water when exposed to the ambient atmosphere, and following structure-specific changes at the Reline/air interface is crucial and difficult. For Reline (dry, 0 wt %, w/w, water) we observe vibrational signatures of both urea and choline ions at the surface. Upon increase of the water content, there is a gradual depletion of urea from the surface, an enhanced alignment, and an enrichment of the surface with choline cations, indicating surface speciation of ChCl. Above 40% w/w water content, choline cations abruptly deplete from the surface, as evidenced by the decrease of the vibrational signal of the -CH2- groups of choline and the rapid rise of a water signal. Above 60% w/w water content, the surface spectrum of aqueous Reline becomes indistinguishable from that of neat water.

Effect of lithium salt on fluorescence quenching in glycerol: a comparison with ionic liquid/deep eutectic solvent

It was reported earlier that the addition of LiCl to the deep eutectic solvent (DES) ChCl:Urea (composed of the salt choline chloride and the H-bond donor urea in 1 : 2 molar ratio) and the addition of LiTf₂N [Tf₂N:(CF₃SO₂)₂N] to the ionic liquid (IL) [C₂C₁im][Tf₂N] ([C₂C₁im]:1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium), respectively, results in an increase in the dynamic viscosity of the medium. However, as the concentration of the Li salt is increased, instead of decreasing, the bimolecular quenching rate constant (k_q) for the quenching of pyrene fluorescence by nitromethane is observed to first increase and only then decreases within both media. This unusual initial increase in quenching is hypothesized to be due to structural changes in the DES ChCl:Urea and the IL [C₂C₁im][Tf₂N], respectively, as the Li salt is added. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the physical properties and fluorescence quenching behavior between 1 wt% water in glycerol solution which has similar viscosity to that of the DES ChCl:Urea with the aforementioned DES and IL in the presence of lithium salt as media. In complete contrast, irrespective of the temperature, k_q is found to decrease monotonically with increasing concentration of LiCl within 1 wt% water in glycerol media. These findings therefore highlight the unusual characteristics of ILs and DESs as solubilizing media. The ionic nature of the IL and the high concentration of ions in the DES are deemed responsible for these outcomes.

Donor-acceptor complex formation in tetra-n-butylammonium chloride: n-decanoic acid deep eutectic solvent

Complex formation between pyrene (Py) and N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA) is presented in a deep eutectic solvent constituting of tetra-n-butylammonium chloride (TBAC) and n-decanoic acid (DA) in a 1:2 mol ratio, respectively, named TBAC:DA. The addition of DMA to a Py solution of TBAC:DA results in the formation of a fluorescent Py-DMA charge-transfer complex, which is manifested via a broad structureless bathochromically shifted band centered at 550(±2) nm. The solvatochromic nature of the Py-DMA fluorescent complex indicates the solvent polarity of TBAC:DA to be higher than that of methanol. The absence of a negative pre-exponential factor in the intensity decay at 550 nm combined with the excitation scans implies the presence of weak interaction between Py and DMA in the ground-state, leading to the rapid formation of a Py-DMA complex possibly at a sub-nanosecond time scale. The Stern-Volmer quenching constant (K_SV) varies from 53(±2) to 96(±1) M^-1, and the bimolecular quenching rate constant (k_q) varies from 3.0(±0.4) × 10⁸ to 8.8(±1.3) × 10⁸ M^-1 s^-1 by increasing the temperature (T) from 283.15 to 313.15 K, implying efficient deactivation of electron-acceptor Py in the excited-state induced effectively by the electron-donor DMA within TBAC:DA. ln k_q varies linearly with 1/T with an activation energy (E_a) of 26.4(±0.4) kJ mol^-1. The linear behavior between k_q and 1/η suggests conformity to the Stokes-Einstein relationship within TBAC:DA. The Py-DMA complex formation efficiency increases with an increase in T and reaches maxima at 298.15 K before decreasing with a further increase in T. The initial reduction in η favors Py-DMA complex formation; this effect is overcome by preferential thermal deactivation of the Py-DMA fluorescent complex as compared to that of pyrene.

Deep Eutectic Solvents: A Review of Fundamentals and Applications

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are an emerging class of mixtures characterized by significant depressions in melting points compared to those of the neat constituent components. These materials are promising for applications as inexpensive "designer" solvents exhibiting a host of tunable physicochemical properties. A detailed review of the current literature reveals the lack of predictive understanding of the microscopic mechanisms that govern the structure-property relationships in this class of solvents. Complex hydrogen bonding is postulated as the root cause of their melting point depressions and physicochemical properties; to understand these hydrogen bonded networks, it is imperative to study these systems as dynamic entities using both simulations and experiments. This review emphasizes recent research efforts in order to elucidate the next steps needed to develop a fundamental framework needed for a deeper understanding of DESs. It covers recent developments in DES research, frames outstanding scientific questions, and identifies promising research thrusts aligned with the advancement of the field toward predictive models and fundamental understanding of these solvents.

Assessing the Location of Ionic and Molecular Solutes in a Molecularly Heterogeneous and Nonionic Deep Eutectic Solvent

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are emerging sustainable designer solvents viewed as greener and better alternatives to ionic liquids. Nonionic DESs possess unique properties such as viscosity and hydrophobicity that make them desirable in microextraction applications such as oil-spill remediation. This work builds upon a nonionic DES, NMA–LA DES, previously designed by our group. The NMA–LA DES presents a rich nanoscopic morphology that could be used to allocate solutes of different polarities. In this work, the possibility of solvating different solutes within the nanoscopically heterogeneous molecular structure of the NMA–LA DES is investigated using ionic and molecular solutes. In particular, the localized vibrational transitions in these solutes are used as reporters of the DES molecular structure via vibrational spectroscopy. The FTIR and 2DIR data suggest that the ionic solute is confined in a polar and continuous domain formed by NMA, clearly sensing the direct effect of the change in NMA concentration. In the case of the molecular nonionic and polar solute, the data indicates that the solute resides in the interface between the polar and nonpolar domains. Finally, the results for the nonpolar and nonionic solute (W(CO)₆) are unexpected and less conclusive. Contrary to its polarity, the data suggest that the W(CO)₆ resides within the NMA polar domain of the DES, probably by inducing a domain restructuring in the solvent. However, the data are not conclusive enough to discard the possibility that the restructuring comprises not only the polar domain but also the interface. Overall, our results demonstrate that the NMA–LA DES has nanoscopic domains with affinity to particular molecular properties, such as polarity. Thus, the presented results have a direct implication to separation science.