How do residual water molecules in ionic liquids (ILs) interact with themselves, as well as with the ions? This question is crucial in understanding why the physical properties of ILs--and chemical reactions performed in them--are strongly affected by the residual water content. There have been three conflicting hypotheses regarding the structure and behaviour of the residual water: (i) water molecules are separated from one another, while interacting strongly with the ions, and dispersed throughout the medium; (ii) water molecules self-associate or form clusters in the ILs; (iii) residual water weakens ion-ion interactions. A satisfactory resolution of these conflicting suggestions has been hindered by the complexity and long range of the interactions in the water-IL mixture and by the often profound differences in physical structure between various different ILs. Here we present a route to resolve this question through a combination of a statistical thermodynamic theory (Kirkwood-Buff theory) with density and osmotic data from the literature. The structure of water-IL mixtures is shown to be water content dependent; at the lowest measured water concentration, strong water-IL interaction and water-water separation are observed in accordance to (i), whereas water in a more hydrophobic IL environment seems to self-associate at moderately low water concentrations, in accordance with (ii).

The sensitivity of ionic liquids (ILs) to water affects their physical and chemical properties, even at relatively low concentrations, yet the structural thermodynamics of protic IL- (PIL-) water systems at low water concentrations still remains unclear. Using the rigorous Kirkwood-Buff theory of solutions, which can quantify the interactions between species in IL-water systems solely from thermodynamic data, we have shown the following: (1) Between analogous protic and aprotic ILs (AILs), the AIL cholinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([Ch][NTf]) shows stronger interactions with water at low water concentrations, with the analogous PIL N,N-dimethylethanolammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([DMEtA][NTf]) having stronger water-ion interactions at higher water contents, despite water-ion interactions weakening with increasing water content in both systems. (2) Water has little effect on the average ion-ion interactions in both protic and aprotic ILs, aside from the AIL [Ch][NTf], which shows a strengthening of ion-ion interactions with increasing water content. (3) Self-association of water in both PIL-water systems leading to the presence of large aggregates of water in IL-rich compositions has been inferred. Water-water interactions in [DMEtA][NTf] were found to be similar to those of dialkylimidazolium AILs, whereas these interactions were much larger in the PIL N,N-dimethylethanolammonium propionate ([DMEtA][Pr]), attributed to the change in anion-water interactions.

We study the properties of residual water molecules at different mole fractions in dialkylimidazolium based ionic liquids (ILs), namely 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIM/BF4) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIM/BF4) by means of atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The corresponding Kirkwood-Buff (KB) integrals for the water-ion and ion-ion correlation behavior are calculated by a direct evaluation of the radial distribution functions. The outcomes are compared to the corresponding KB integrals derived by an inverse approach based on experimental data. Our results reveal a quantitative agreement between both approaches, which paves a way towards a more reliable comparison between simulation and experimental results. The simulation outcomes further highlight that water even at intermediate mole fractions has a negligible influence on the ion distribution in the solution. More detailed analysis on the local/bulk partition coefficients and the partial structure factors reveal that water molecules at low mole fractions mainly remain in the monomeric state. A non-linear increase of higher order water clusters can be found at larger water concentrations. For both ILs, a more pronounced water coordination around the cations when compared to the anions can be observed, which points out that the IL cations are mainly responsible for water pairing mechanisms. Our simulations thus provide detailed insights in the properties of dialkylimidazolium based ILs and their effects on water binding.