Understanding siloxane functionalised ionic liquids.

In this paper we use ab initio theoretical methods in combination with experimental studies to investigate ion-pairs of the ionic liquid (IL) 1-methyl-3-pentamethyldisiloxymethylimidazolium chloride [(SiOSi)C(1)C(1)im]Cl, in order to deepen our understanding of the effects of functionalisation on an IL. In addition, we focus on the effect of the siloxy group on the viscosity. We establish that the ion-pairing energies of [(SiOSi)C(1)C(1)im]Cl are similar to those of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [C(4)C(1)im]Cl, because the anion interacts primarily with the imidazolium ring.