Isobutane as a probe of the structure of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquids

An experimental study of the solubility and of the thermodynamic properties of solvation, between temperatures (303 and 343) K and at pressures close to atmospheric, of 2-methylpropane (isobutane) in several ionic liquids based on the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion and on 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations, [CnC1Im][NTf2], with alkyl side-chains varying from two to ten carbon atoms is presented. The isobutane solubility increases with increasing size of the alkyl side-chain of the cation in the ionic liquid and decreases with increasing temperature (as typical of an exothermal dissolution process). The mole fraction solubility of isobutane varies from 0.904 · 10−2 in [C2C1Im][NTf2] at T = 343 K to 1.002 · 10−1 in [C10C1Im][NTf2] at T = 303 K. The values measured in this work are compared to the behaviour of n-butane in the same ionic liquids published in a previous study (Costa Gomes et al., 2012). Isobutane was found to be significantly less soluble than n-butane in all the ionic liquids. The differences found are interpreted in relation to the molecular structures obtained by molecular dynamics simulations for the solutions of n-butane and isobutane in the studied [CnC1Im][NTf2] ionic liquids.