Evaluating the solvation properties of metal-containing ionic liquids using the solvation parameter model.

Ionic liquids (IL) have been utilized as gas chromatography stationary phases due to their high thermal stability, negligible vapor pressure, wide liquid range, and the ability to solvate a range of analytes. In this study, the solvation properties of eight room temperature ILs containing various transition and rare earth metal centers [e.g., Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Nd(III), Gd(III), and Dy(III)] are characterized using the Abraham solvation parameter model. These metal-containing ILs (MCILs) consist of the trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium cation and functionalized acetylacetonate ligands chelated to various metals. They are used in this study as gas chromatographic stationary phases to investigate the effect of the metal centers on the separation selectivities for various analytes. In addition, two MCILs comprised of tetrachloromanganate and tris(trifluoromethylphenylacetylaceto)manganate anions were used to study the effect of chelating ligands on the selectivity of the stationary phases. Depending on the metal center and chelating ligand, significant differences in solvation properties were observed. MCILs containing Ni(II) and Mn(II) metal centers exhibited higher retention factors and higher peak asymmetry factors for amines (e.g., aniline and pyridine). Alcohols (e.g., phenol, p-cresol, 1-octanol, and 1-decanol) were strongly retained on the MCIL stationary phase containing Mn(II) and Dy(III) metal centers. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation into how the solvation properties of ILs can be varied by incorporating transition and rare earth metal centers into their structural make-up. In addition, it provides insight into how these new classes of ILs can be used for solute-specific gas chromatographic separations. Graphical abstract The solvation properties of eight metal-containing ionic liquids (MCILs) comprised of transition and rare-earth metal centers are evaluated for the first time using gas chromatography. The results reveal that metals comprising the MCILs provide unique separation selectivities for various analytes and that these materials can be exploited as stationary phases in solute-specific gas chromatographic separations.