Alkyl vs. alkoxy chains on ionic liquid cations.

The crystal structures and thermal behavior of the 1-(2-methoxyethyl)-2,3-dimethylimidazolium chloride and hexa-fluorophosphate salts are compared with the analogous 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium salts to examine the influence of the ether oxygen on salt thermal properties for a typical constituent cation used in the preparation of ionic liquids.