A thermophysical investigation of weakly coordinated metals in ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids can solvate metals without strongly coordinating them, which gives a rare opportunity to probe the complexity of weakly coordinated metals through characterisation of liquid properties. In this work we use bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ( bistriflimide; [NTf]) anions to prepare weakly coordinated metal containing ionic liquids (MILs) that are highly versatile because they are reactive with readily substituted ligands. Weakly coordinated metals are more than highly active catalysts.