Prediction of the Adsorption Coefficients for Imidazolium Ionic Liquids in Soils Using Cyanopropyl Stationary Phase

• Published in: Polish journal of environmental studies Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 383 - 388
• Main Authors: Mrozik, W, Nichthauser, J, Stepnowski, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2008
• Subjects: Indexing in process; Q1
• ISSN: 1230-1485

Because of potential widespread application of ionic liquids in industrial processes, they should be evaluated before being allowed to enter the environment. The sorption of the substance on soil and sediment is an essential parameter in a new approach of chemical design. The HPLC method involving cyanopropyl- reversed phases for determining sorption coefficients may be an alternative tool in predicting the soil sorption properties of a variety of compounds in comparison to traditional laboratory methods. We obtain significant correlation of capacity factors, log k', and organic carbon normalized sorption coefficients, log K sub(oc), for the set of homologous ionic liquids (1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium salts) for meadow soils, CL1, CL2 and agricultural soils AG2, AG3 (R super(2)=0.97, 0.97, 0.98 and 0.99, respectively). Results for marine sediment are also significant (R super(2)=0.99). The correlation with forest soil, WO and peat, PE data is also reasonably good (R super(2)=0.92 and R super(2)=0.94). Hhowever, the set including both 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium and 1-alkyl-3-ethylimidazolium salts gives good results only for CL1, AG2, PE soil and marine sediment SE (R super(2)=0.93, 0.94, 0.95 and 0.94). These differences may be explained due to molecular structure of the ionic liquids used and properties of the soil (cation exchange capacities and organic matter content).