An experimental-computational study on thermodynamic properties and intermolecular interactions of binary mixtures composed of quaternary ammonium salts-based deep eutectic solvents and [ETN] or [ACN]

To deep understand the thermodynamic properties and intermolecular interactions of quaternary ammonium salts-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs), two novel DESs systems ([TPAB]:[MA] and [TBAB]:[MA]) were synthesized using tetrapropylammonium bromide ([TPAB]) or tetrabutylammonium bromide ([TBAB]) as hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and malonic acid ([MA]) as hydrogen bond donor (HBD). Then, the ethanol (ETN) and acetonitrile (ACN) were used to prepare four DESs + solvent mixtures. Based on experimental data of density and surface tension of these four binary mixtures, the thermodynamic parameters such as apparent molar volume (V phi), V phi ), excess molar volume (VE), V E ), limiting apparent molar expansibility (E0 phi), E 0 phi ), molar surface entropy (s), s ), molar surface Gibbs energy (gs), g s ), and molar surface enthalpy (h) h ) were calculated. At the same temperature, the calculated V E values of binary mixtures were arranged in the following sequence: [TBAB]:[MA] + [ETN] > [TPAB]:[MA] + [ETN] > [TPAB]:[MA] + [ACN] > [TBAB]:[MA] + [ACN]. Based on the radial distribution functions (RDFs) theory, this observed phenomenon was attributed to the enhanced interaction between HBA and [ETN] in the DESs + [ETN] as compared to the interaction between HBA and [ACN] in the DESs + [ACN]. The predicted surface tension values (gamma (pre) ) of the four binary mixtures were calculated and highly correlated with the experimental surface tension values (gamma (exp) ). Moreover, the Br1 1 atom in [TPAB], the Br2 2 atom in [TBAB], and the H9 9 atom in [MA] were selected as reference sites. The interaction strength sequence between HBD and HBA was investigated using RDFs as follows: [TBAB]:[MA] + [ACN] > [TPAB]:[MA] + [ACN] > [TBAB]:[MA] + [ETN] > [TPAB]:[MA] + [ETN]. This study can provide an important theoretical support for further utilization of quaternary ammonium salts-based DESs.