Ionic liquids: A most promising research field in solution chemistry and thermodynamics*
Andreas Heintz and Christiane Wertz
Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany
Abstract: Modern room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) consisting of large and asymmetric organic cations and small inorganic anions exhibit a special class of recently developed liquids unifying the property of the liquid state and strong Coulomb interactions acting as the prevailing intermolecular interactions in the liquid state. Several selected examples of the most promising chemical and technical applications of ILs are presented, which underline the importance of thermophysical properties of ILs and their role of being particular solvents in catalytic and separation processes as well as in special fields of electrochemistry.
Keywords: ionic liquids; applications of ionic liquids; solution chemistry of ionic liquids.
*Paper based on a presentation at the 29th International Conference on Solution Chemistry, Portorož, Slovenia, 20-25 August 2005. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 1559-1617.