A fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric study of room-temperature 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids. Evidence for the existence of the decachlorotrialuminate(III) anion

✍ Scribed by Ala'a K. Abdul-Sada; Anthony M. Greenway; Kenneth R. Seddon; Thomas Welton

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 481 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1076-5174
• DOI: 10.1002/oms.1210280706

✦ Synopsis

Previous studies of lethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride-aluminium(II1) chloride (1 emim] Cl-AICI,) ionic liquids have been hampered by significant contamination of these liquids by oxide impurities. Treatment of these liquids with phosgene removes the oxide impurities, and the use of a specially constructed sample inlet system for airsensitive materials permitted them to be studied by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. The ions Cl-, [CI,l-, [AICI,]-, [AlzC171-, [emim]' and [(emim),X]+ (X = CI or AICI,) were observed for the basic ionic liquid. In addition, the anion [AI,CI,,]was observed for the acidic composition. Within the mass spectrometer, the hydrolyses of [ A13Cllo]to produce [ AI,CI,O]and of [ AI,CI,]to produce [ AI,CI,O]were observed. Comparison of these results with published '"0 NMR data suggests that the primary hydrolysis products in acidic ionic liquids are [AI,CI,O]-and [AI,CI,O]-and that the principal secondary hydrolysis product is [ AI,CI,(OH)] -.