Solvation of carbohydrates in N,N′-dialkylimidazolium ionic liquids:: A multinuclear NMR spectroscopy study

The solvation of carbohydrates in N,N'-dialkylimidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) was investigated by means of C-13 and Cl-35/37 NMR relaxation and H-1 pulsed field gradient stimulated echo (PFG-STE) diffusion measurements. Solutions of model sugars in 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C(4)mim]Cl), 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C=C(2)mim]C]), and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C(2)mim][OAc]) were studied to evaluate the effects of cation and anion structure on the solvation mechanism. In all cases, the changes in the relaxation times of carbon nuclei of the IL cations as a function of carbohydrate concentration are small and consistent with the variation in solution viscosities. Conversely, the Cl-35/37 and C-13 relaxation rates of chloride ions and acetate ion carbons, respectively, have a strong dependency on sugar content. For [C(2)mim][OAc], the correlation times estimated from C-13 relaxation data for both ions reveal that, as the carbohydrate concentration increases, the reorientation rate of the anion decreases faster than that of the cation. Although not as marked as the variations observed in the relaxation data, similar trends were obtained from the analysis of cation and, in the case of [C(2)mim][OAc], anion self-diffusion coefficients of the sugar/IL systems. Our results show that the interactions between the IL cation and the solutes are nonspecific, confirm that the process is governed by the interactions between the IL anion and the carbohydrate, and, more importantly, indicate no change in the solvation mechanism regardless of the structure of the anion.