Generation of superoxide ion in 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoroacetate and its application in the destruction of chloroethanes

Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted the curiosity of researchers due to their unique properties in different applications such as separation, extraction, purification, catalysis and electrochemical applications. The generation of superoxide ion (O-2 center dot(-)) in ILs is one of these interesting areas. In this work O-2 center dot(-) was generated and analyzed electrochemically using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques from O-2 center dot(-) dissolved in 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoroacetate,[BMPyrr][TFA]. Moreover, O-2 center dot(-) was generated chemically by the addition of potassium superoxide (KO2) into the same IL UV/Vis spectrophotometer was used for testing the stability of the generated O-2 center dot(-) and GC/MS was used to investigate any possible reaction between [BMPyrri]TFA] and. For our best knowledge this is the first time that trifluoroacetate based IL was used for the generation of O-2 center dot(-). The results showed that O-2 center dot(-) was very stable in this IL This encourages further investigation on the use of this particular class of ILs in diverse applications involving the O-2 center dot(-). The chemically generated O-2 center dot(-) by dissolving KO2 was then used for the destruction of hexachloroethane in [BMPyrr][TFA] under ambient conditions. The destruction percentage was higher than 98%. This work presents the first attempt to utilize KO2 for destruction of chloroethanes in ILs. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.