Computational approach to nuclear magnetic resonance in 1-Alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids

A quantum-chemical computational approach to accurately predict the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) properties of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids has been performed by the gauge-including atomic orbitals method at the B3LYP/6-31++G** level using different simulated ionic liquid environments. The first molecular model chosen to describe the ionic liquid system includes the gas-phase optimized structures of ion pairs and separated ions of a series of imidazolium salts containing methyl, butyl, and octyl substituents and PF6-, BF4-, and Br- anions. In addition, a continuum polarizable model of solvation has been applied to predict the effects of the medium polarity on the molecular properties of 1,3-dimethylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (MmimPF6). Furthermore, the specific acidic and basic solute-solvent interactions have been simulated by a discrete solvation model based on molecular clusters formed by MmimPF6 species and a discrete number of water molecules. The computational prediction of the NMR spectra allows a consistent interpretation of the dispersed experimental evidence in the literature. The following are main contributions of this work: (a) Theoretical results state the presence of a chemical equilibrium between ion-pair aggregates and solvent-separated counterions of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium salts which is tuned by the solvent environment; thus, strong specific (acidic and basic) and nonspecific (polarity and polarizability) solvent interactions are predicted favoring the dissociated ionic species. (b) The calculated 1H and 13C NMR properties of these ionic liquids are revealed as highly dependent on the nature of solute-solvent interactions. Thus, the chemical shift of the hydrogen atom in position two of the imidazolium ring is deviated to high values by the specific interactions with water molecules, whereas nonspecific interaction with water (as a solvent) affects, in the opposite direction, this 1H NMR parameter. (c) Last, current calculations support the presence of hydrogen bonding between counterions, suggesting the importance of this interaction in the properties of the solvent in the 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids.