States of Water Located in the Continuous Organic Phase of 1‐Butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate/Triton X‐100/Triethylamine Reverse Microemulsions

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel ionic liquid (IL) microemulsion, consisting of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF4) and nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 prepared in triethylamine which is used either as an organic solvent or a Lewis base. The effects of small amounts of added water on the microstructure of the IL microemulsion are investigated by various techniques. UV/Vis spectroscopic analysis and FTIR spectra indicate that these water molecules are not solubilized into the IL pools of the microemulsions. 1H NMR spectra further show that the added water binds with triethylamine to form a surrounding OH- base environment. Some of OH- ions enter the palisade layers of the IL microemulsions and a continuous base interface is created. The unique solubilization behavior of water reveals that it is possible to use the triethylamine microemulsions as a template to prepare metal hydroxides as well as metal oxides in the microemulsions, which is not possible when using traditional microemulsions.

Unique role of ionic liquid [bmin][BF4] during curcumin–surfactant association and micellization of cationic, anionic and non-ionic surfactant solutions

“…These are immiscible with a number of organic solvents and provide non-aqueous polar alternatives for two phase systems. They are of particular interest because of their environmentally friendly nature, their exciting features and their economical convenience [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. The unusual properties of ILs demonstrate a unique role in altering the properties of aqueous surfactant solutions such as aggregation number [3,4].…”

Study on the Morphology Feature of 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate Based Ionic Liquid Reverse Microemulsions

“…[28,34] The three different microstructures, that is, IL-in-oil, bicontinuous and oil-in-IL were successfully detected by conductivity method. [28,34] The cyclic voltammetry was also found to be a powerful tool to characterize the three microstructures of IL microemulsions.…”

“…[28,34] The three different microstructures, that is, IL-in-oil, bicontinuous and oil-in-IL were successfully detected by conductivity method. [28,34] The cyclic voltammetry was also found to be a powerful tool to characterize the three microstructures of IL microemulsions. [22,23] In this work, the weight ratio of Triton X-100=cyclohexane is fixed at 11:9 and the molar ratio of bmimBF 4 =Triton X-100, R, is 0.52.…”

“…Small amounts of water molecules bound the continuous triethylamine and a basic environment surrounding IL microemulsion droplets was created. [34] The unique solubilization behavior of water opens the way to use the IL microemulsion as a template to prepare metal hydroxides and their corresponding oxides. So far, it seems that only nonionic surfactants can support the formation of IL microemulsions and the required amounts of surfactants are relatively higher than those of traditional reverse aqueous microemulsions.…”

Various Self-Assembly Behaviors of Amphiphilic Molecules in Ionic Liquids

“…In addition, Zheng and his coworkers found an interesting IL-in-base microemulsion, in which triethylamine acts as either organic solvent or Lewis base. The added water molecules mainly bond the continuous triethylamine to form a surrounding OHˉ basis environment [44]. Some of OH − ions may enter the palisade layers of the IL microemulsions and a continuous basic interface was created.…”