Correlation between absorbed acetylene spectral characteristic and nature of ionic liquids studied by in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy

Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs) are believed to be a prospective replacement for molecular solvents and are suggested to be used for storing and/or purifying acetylene. Systematic studies of the nature of the interaction between acetylene and different ILs may be necessary to predict new types of ionic liquids. Therefore, in order to investigate the absorption of acetylene by ionic liquids, in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy has been applied for the first time. Two series of ILs, such as [C2‍–‍10MIM][BF4] and ILs based on imidazolium with various anions, have been considered. A detailed analysis of the spectra of absorbed acetylene is given, with special attention being paid to the basicity of IL anions as well as the influence of the cation alkyl chain length. It has been found that the magnitude of the band shift associated with the CH stretching vibration and the antisymmetric CH bending vibration of absorbed acetylene correlates well with the change in the Kamlet-Taft β parameter of the ILs. Moreover, neither the free volume nor the IL polarity plays a key role in acetylene solubility. In addition, the enthalpy and entropy of absorption have been calculated for several ILs.