Issue 27, 2014
From the journal:

RSC Advances

Microemulsion-like aggregation behaviour of an LCST-type ionic liquid in water

Rui Wang,ab   Wenguang Leng,b   Yanan Gao*b  and  Li Yu*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Shandong University, Ministry of Education, Jinan, China
E-mail: ylmlt@sdu.edu.cn
Fax: +86-531-88364750
Tel: +86-531-88364807

b China Ionic Liquid Laboratory, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, China
E-mail: ygao@dicp.ac.cn
Fax: +86-411-84379992
Tel: +86-411-84379992

Abstract

The ionic liquid (IL), tetrabutylphosphonium trifluoroacetate ([P4444][CF3COO]) showed a low critical solution temperature (LCST)-type phase transition in water. It was found that [P4444][CF3COO] molecules can form some kind of long-living aggregates in aqueous solution under certain conditions before the phase separation. These aggregates displayed the characteristic properties of microemulsions, although no surfactants are used. For instance, the aggregate droplet size can be adjusted by temperature and concentration, which behaves like the swelling phenomenon of microemulsions; the formed aggregates showed beneficial solubilization capacity for apolar substances; in addition, a tunable micropolarity in the aggregates [i with combining low line][s with combining low line] [o with combining low line][b with combining low line][s with combining low line][e with combining low line][r with combining low line][v with combining low line][e with combining low line][d with combining low line] [b with combining low line][y with combining low line] [t with combining low line][h with combining low line][e with combining low line] [d with combining low line][e with combining low line][t with combining low line][e with combining low line][c with combining low line][t with combining low line][i with combining low line][o with combining low line][n with combining low line] [o with combining low line][f with combining low line] [U with combining low line][V with combining low line]-Vis measurements. These are by far the simplest aggregates having the microemulsion characteristics. In nature, these microemulsion-like aggregates have mesoscopic phase separation, which is the intermediate state for macroscopic phase separation. This special system can be regarded as surfactant-free microemulsion-like aggregates and should be an effective platform to provide novel extraction or separation media.

Graphical abstract: Microemulsion-like aggregation behaviour of an LCST-type ionic liquid in water

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3RA46910G
Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Nov 2013
Accepted
27 Jan 2014
First published
03 Feb 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 14055-14062

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Microemulsion-like aggregation behaviour of an LCST-type ionic liquid in water

R. Wang, W. Leng, Y. Gao and L. Yu, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 14055 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA46910G

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