Interaction of a long alkyl chain protic ionic liquid and water

Elucidating Factors Contributing to Dicamba Volatilization by Characterizing Chemical Speciation in Dried Dicamba-Amine Residues

Dicamba is a semivolatile herbicide that has caused widespread unintentional damage to vegetation due to its volatilization from genetically engineered dicamba-tolerant crops. Strategies to reduce dicamba volatilization rely on the use of formulations containing amines, which deprotonate dicamba to generate a nonvolatile anion in aqueous solution. Dicamba volatilization in the field is also expected to occur after aqueous spray droplets dry to produce a residue; however, dicamba speciation in this phase is poorly understood. We applied Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to evaluate dicamba protonation state in dried dicamba-amine residues. We first demonstrated that commercially relevant amines such as diglycolamine (DGA) and n,n-bis(3-aminopropyl)methylamine (BAPMA) fully deprotonated dicamba when applied at an equimolar molar ratio, while dimethylamine (DMA) allowed neutral dicamba to remain detectable, which corresponded to greater dicamba volatilization. Expanding the amines tested, we determined that dicamba speciation in the residues was unrelated to solution-phase amine pKa, but instead was affected by other amine characteristics (i.e., number of hydrogen bonding sites) that also correlated with greater dicamba volatilization. Finally, we characterized dicamba-amine residues containing an additional component (i.e., the herbicide S-metolachlor registered for use alongside dicamba) to investigate dicamba speciation in a more complex chemical environment encountered in field applications.

Influence of protic ionic liquids on hydration of glycine based peptides

The structure of water, especially around the solute is thought to play an important role in many biological and chemical processes. Water-peptide and cosolvent-peptide interactions are crucial in determining the structure and function of protein molecules. In this work, we present the H-bonding analysis for model peptides like glycyl-glycine (gly-gly), glycine-ւ-valine (gly-val), glycyl-ւ-leucine (gly-leu) and triglycine (trigly) and triethylammonium based carboxylate protic ionic liquids (PILs) in aqueous solutions as well as for peptides in ∼0.2 mol·L^-1 of aqueous PIL solutions in the spectral range of 7800-5500 cm^-1 using Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy at 298.15 K. The hydration numbers for peptides and PILs were obtained using NIR method of simultaneous estimation of hydration spectrum and hydration number of a solute dissolved in water. The H-bond of water molecules around peptides and PILs are found to be stronger and shorter than those in pure liquid water. We observe that the hydration shell around zwitterions is a clathrate-like cluster of water in which ions entrap. Watery network analysis confirms that singly H-bonded species or NHBs changes to partial or distorted ice-like structures of water in the hydration shell of PILs. The overall water H-bonding in the hydration sphere of PILs increases in the order TEAF < TEAA < TEAG < TEAPy ≈ TEAP < TEAB. The influence of PILs on hydration behavior of peptides is explored in terms of H-bonding, cooperativity, hydrophobicity, water structural changes, ionic interactions etc.

Cholinium amino acid-based ionic liquids

Boosted by the simplicity of their synthesis and low toxicity, cholinium and amino acid-based ionic liquids have attracted the attention of researchers in many different fields ranging from computational chemistry to electrochemistry and medicine. Among the uncountable IL variations, these substances occupy a space on their own due to their exceptional biocompatibility that stems from being entirely made by metabolic molecular components. These substances have undergone a rather intensive research activity because of the possibility of using them as greener replacements for traditional ionic liquids. We present here a short review in the attempt to provide a compendium of the state-of-the-art scientific research about this special class of ionic liquids based on the combination of amino acid anions and cholinium cations.

Theoretical Insights into the Structure of the Aminotris(Methylenephosphonic Acid) (ATMP) Anion: A Possible Partner for Conducting Ionic Media

We present a computational characterisation of Aminotris(methylenephosphonic acid) (ATMP) and its potential use as an anionic partner for conductive ionic liquids (ILs). We argue that for an IL to be a good candidate for a conducting medium, two conditions must be fulfilled: (i) the charge must be transported by light carriers; and (ii) the system must maintain a high degree of ionisation. The result trends presented herein show that there are molecular ion combinations that do comply with these two criteria, regardless of the specific system used. ATMP is a symmetric molecule with a total of six protons. In the bulk phase, breaking the symmetry of the fully protonated state and creating singly and doubly charged anions induces proton transfer mechanisms. To demonstrate this, we used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations employing a variable topology approach based on the reasonably reliable semiempirical density functional tight binding (DFTB) evaluation of the atomic forces. We show that, by choosing common and economical starting compounds, we can devise a viable prototype for a highly conductive medium where charge transfer is achieved by proton motion.

Altering the X-ray Scattering Contrast of Triton X-100 Micelles and Its Trapping in a Supercooled Solvent

The structure of core-shell micelles formed by nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 (TX-100) in a supercooled glucose-urea melt is investigated by contrast variation small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), small angle neutron scattering (SANS), and HR-TEM. Cooling a molten mixture of glucose-urea (weight ratio of 3:2) to room temperature yields a supercooled solvent without crystallization that can be used for trapping micelles of TX-100. By use of a combination of water and glucose-urea mixture at different proportions as solvent for micellization, the scattering length density (SLD) of the solvent can be tuned to match the shell contrast of the micelles. A systematic analysis of SAXS and SANS data with different SLD of solvent permits a quantitative evaluation of electron density profile of micelles in different matrices. The core of TX-100 micelles shows significant swelling in glucose-urea melt, as compared to that in water. The dimension and morphology of micelles were evaluated by scattering techniques and HR-TEM. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies suggest that, unlike micelles in water, the diffusion of micelles in supercooled glucose-urea melt decreased by several orders of magnitude.

Structural Features of Triethylammonium Acetate through Molecular Dynamics

I have explored the structural features and the dynamics of triethylammonium acetate by means of semi-empirical (density functional tight binding, DFTB) molecular dynamics. I find that the results from the present simulations agree with recent experimental determinations with only few minor differences in the structural interpretation. A mixture of triethylamine and acetic acid does not form an ionic liquid, but gives rise to a very complex system where ionization is only a partial process affecting only few molecules (1 over 4 experimentally). I have also found that the few ionic couples are stable and remain mainly embedded inside the AcOH neutral moiety.

Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Study of Phospho-Amino Acid-Based Ionic Liquids: Formation of Zwitterionic Anions in the Presence of Acidic Side Chains

We present a computational analysis of the complex proton-transfer processes in two protic ionic liquids based on phosphorylated amino acid anions. The structure and the short time dynamics have been analyzed via ab initio and semi-empirical molecular dynamics. Given the presence of mobile protons on the side chain, such ionic liquids may represent a viable prototype of highly conductive ionic mediums. The results of our simulations are not entirely satisfactory in this respect. Our results indicate that conduction in these liquids may be limited due to a quick quenching of the proton-transfer processes. In particular, we have found that, while proton migration does occur on very short timescales, the amino groups act as proton scavengers preventing an efficient proton migration. Despite their limits as conductive mediums, we show that these ionic liquids possess an unconventional microscopic structure, where the anionic component is made by amino acid anions that the aforementioned proton transfer has transformed into zwitterionic isomers. This unusual chemical structure is relevant because of the recent use of amino acid-based ionic liquids, such as CO₂ absorbent.

Statistic-Driven Proton Transfer Affecting Nanoscopic Organization in an Ethylammonium Nitrate Ionic Liquid and 1,4-Diaminobutane Binary Mixture: A Steamy Pizza Model

Herein, we report on the theoretical and experimental investigation of the chemical equilibrium in a Ethylammonium Nitrate (EAN)/1,4-Diaminobutane (DAB) binary mixture displaying a significant excess of the latter component (namely, a 1:9 mole ratio). Both the neutral compounds, i.e., ethylamine (EtNH2) and DAB, present very similar chemical properties, especially concerning their basic strength, resulting in a continuous jump of the proton from the ethylammonium to the diamine (and vice-versa). Due to the significant excess of DAB, the proton is (statistically) expected to be bound to one of its nitrogen atoms, leading to the formation of a new (ternary) mixture containing DAB (ca. 80%), ethylamine (ca. 10%) and 4-amino-1-butylammonium nitrate (ABAN, ca. 10%). This is probed by means of SAXS measurements, showing LqE (low q excess) that increases over time. This feature tends to stabilize after approximately one day. When the measurement is repeated after one year, the LqE feature shows an increased intensity. Based on the results of our simulations, we suggest that this phenomenon is likely due to partial ethylamine evaporation, pushing the equilibrium toward the formation of ABAN.

Dielectric Relaxation and Hydration Interactions for Protic and Aprotic Ionic Liquids using Time Domain Reflectometry

H-Bonding abilities of ionic liquids (ILs) along with hydrophobicity and cooperativity effects increases their hydration numbers making them capable for dissolving sparingly soluble organic molecules in aqueous or polar nonaqueous media, and hence ILs are potential candidates in pharmaceutical and medicinal sciences besides the different technological and academic interests. In this work, dielectric spectra were measured and analyzed for diethylammonium-based protic ionic liquids (PILs), imidazolium-based aprotic ionic liquids (APILs), and their aqueous solutions (∼0.02 to ∼0.8 mol·dm^-3) over a frequency range from 0.01 to 50 GHz using time domain reflectometry at 298.15 K. The Cole-Cole (CC) model for neat ILs and a combination of the Debye and Cole-Cole (D+CC) models for their aqueous solutions best describes the experimental dielectric relaxation spectra. Higher values of static permittivity and relaxation time were observed for less viscous PILs compared to more viscous APILs due to the existence of hydrogen bonding in PILs, ionic translational motion, and the existence of transient, short-lived proton transfer responsible for solvent polarization. For aqueous solutions of ionic liquids, the fast collective relaxation of solvent (bulk water) observed at higher frequencies (∼20 GHz) and slow relaxation is detected at lower frequency (∼5 to ∼10 GHz) due to hydrophobic hydration with or without cooperative H-bonding effect. The apparent concentrations of bulk water, c_bw^ap, and slow water, c_sw^ap, were used to obtain effective hydration numbers to understand the ion solvation. Hydration numbers revealed that imidazolium-based APILs are weakly hydrated than the diethylammonium-based PILs. Static permittivity and relaxation time of pure ILs and of aqueous solutions of studied ILs are discussed in terms of effect on alkyl chain length of cation/anion, H-bonding abilities of ions, dipole moments of ions, viscosity, hydrophobic effects, etc.

Equilibrium Structure, Hydrogen Bonding, and Proton Conductivity in Half-Neutralized Diamine Ionic Liquids

Recent experiments on proton conducting ionic liquids point to half-neutralized diamine-triflate salts as promising candidates for applications in power generation and energy conversion electrochemical devices. Structural and dynamical properties of the simplest among these compounds are investigated by a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on an empirical force field. Three different cations have been considered, consisting of a pair of amine-ammonium terminations joined by a short aliphatic segment -(CH₂) _n- with n = 2, 3, and 4. First, the ground state structure, vibrational eigenstates, and hydrogen-bonding properties of single ions, neutral ion pairs, small neutral aggregates of up to eight ions, and molecularly thin hydrogen bonded wires have been investigated by DFT computations. Second, structural and dynamical properties of homogeneous liquid and amorphous phases are investigated by MD simulations over the temperature range of 200 ≤ T ≤ 440 K. Structure factors, radial distribution functions, diffusion coefficient, and electrical conductivity are computed and discussed, highlighting the inherent structural heterogeneity of these compounds. The core investigation, however, is the characterization of connected paths consisting of cation chains that could support proton transport via a Grotthuss-type mechanism. Since simulations are carried out using a force field of fixed bonding topology, this analysis is based on the equilibrium structure only, using geometrical criteria to identify potential paths for proton conduction. Paths of connected cations can reach a length of 80 cations and 30 Å, provided that bridging oxygen atoms from triflate anions are taken into account. The effects of water contamination at 1% weight concentration on the structure, dynamics, and paths for proton transport are discussed.

Structural Features of Cholinium Based Protic Ionic Liquids through Molecular Dynamics

An analysis of the complex proton transfer processes in certain protic ionic liquids, based on amino acid anions, has been carried out through ab initio molecular dynamics in the view of finding naturally conductive and pure mediums. The systems analyzed here might serve as chemical prototypes for pure and dry ionic liquids where mobile protons can act as fast charge carriers. We have exploited the natural tendency of these liquids to form a complex network of hydrogen bonds. The presence of such a network allows the naturally repulsive interaction between like charge ions to be weakened to the point that a proton migration process inside the anionic component of the fluid becomes possible. We have also seen that the extent of these proton migrations is sizable for carboxylic based amino acid anions, while it is very limited for sulfur containing ones.

Hydrogen Bonding as a Clustering Agent in Protic Ionic Liquids: Like-Charge vs Opposite-Charge Dimer Formation

The local structure of a series of homologous protic ionic liquids (PILs) is investigated using ab initio computations and ab initio-based molecular dynamics. The purpose of this work is to show that in PILs the network of hydrogen bonds may promote like-charge clustering between anionic species. We correlate the theoretical evidence of this possibility with viscosity experimental data. The homologous series of liquids is obtained by coupling choline with amino acid anions and varying the side chain. We find that the frictional properties of the liquids are clearly connected to the ability of the side chain to establish additional hydrogen bonds (other than the trivial cation-anion interaction). We also show that the large variation of bulk properties along the series of compounds can be explained by assuming that one of the sources of friction in the bulk liquid is the like-charge interaction between anions.

Vibrational Spectroscopy of Ionic Liquids

Vibrational spectroscopy has continued use as a powerful tool to characterize ionic liquids since the literature on room temperature molten salts experienced the rapid increase in number of publications in the 1990's. In the past years, infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopies have provided insights on ionic interactions and the resulting liquid structure in ionic liquids. A large body of information is now available concerning vibrational spectra of ionic liquids made of many different combinations of anions and cations, but reviews on this literature are scarce. This review is an attempt at filling this gap. Some basic care needed while recording IR or Raman spectra of ionic liquids is explained. We have reviewed the conceptual basis of theoretical frameworks which have been used to interpret vibrational spectra of ionic liquids, helping the reader to distinguish the scope of application of different methods of calculation. Vibrational frequencies observed in IR and Raman spectra of ionic liquids based on different anions and cations are discussed and eventual disagreements between different sources are critically reviewed. The aim is that the reader can use this information while assigning vibrational spectra of an ionic liquid containing another particular combination of anions and cations. Different applications of IR and Raman spectroscopies are given for both pure ionic liquids and solutions. Further issues addressed in this review are the intermolecular vibrations that are more directly probed by the low-frequency range of IR and Raman spectra and the applications of vibrational spectroscopy in studying phase transitions of ionic liquids.

Unexpected proton mobility in the bulk phase of cholinium-based ionic liquids: new insights from theoretical calculations

A chain of aspartic acid anions connected by H-bonds exchanging protons.

Effect of water on the local structure and phase behavior of imidazolium-based protic ionic liquids

We report on the effect of water on local structure and phase behavior of two protic ionic liquids, C2HImTFSI and C2HImTfO. Raman and infrared spectroscopy are employed to investigate the local coordination state. We find that water interacts weakly with TFSI(-) while more specifically with TfO(-) through the -SO3 group. Additionally, we observe that upon addition of water the -NH stretching frequency does not change in C2HImTFSI, while it red-shifts in C2HImTfO, indicative of different hydrogen bonding configurations. Supported by the appearance of some additional features in the 800-1000 cm(-1) frequency range where ring out-of-plane bending (γ) modes are found, we hypothesize that in C2HImTFSI water interacts only with the cation coordinating to the ring C(2)H and the N(3)H sites, while it interacts with both cation and anion in C2HImTfO forming hydrogen bonds that involve the cationic N-H site as well as the anionic -SO3 group. These different local structures also reflect in the phase behavior investigated by DSC, which reveals a more homogeneous solution when water is added to C2HImTfO, as compared to H2O/C2HImTFSI mixtures. Finally we report that the addition of water also significantly affects both Tm and Tg.