“…This trend is in agreement with previous studies (Lo et al, 2003;Kim et al, 2012) wherein the oxidation of thiophene and its derivatives leads to a more efficient extraction of the oxidized products (sulfoxides and sulfones of thiophene) into the ionic liquid phase. This increase in efficiency can be attributed to a better complementarity of the polarity of the ionic liquids with those of the sulfoxides and sulfones (Lo et al, 2003;Kim et al, 2004;Chen et al, 2006;Dekhordi et al, 2009) (Chen et al, 2006;Dehkordi et al, 2009;Lu et al, 2007;Ahosseini and Scurto, 2008;Gardas and Countinho, 2008;Pereiro et al, 2009). It is apparent that an increase in the viscosity of the IL decreases the extraction efficiency; an increase in the viscosity of the IL decreases its extent of contact with the model oil.…”