Ab Initio Investigation of the Interionic Interactions in Triethylammonium-Based Protic Ionic Liquids: The Role of Anions in the Formation of Ion Pair and Hydrogen Bonded Structure

The results of structural analysis and cation-anion interactions of 10 ion pairs and their relevance for the physicochemical properties of triethylammonium-based protic ionic liquids are reported. The calculations were mainly performed by dispersion corrected density functional theory method (B3LYP-GD3). It is shown that the dispersion correction is important in the evaluation of the interaction energies of these compounds. The role of anions in the formation of ion pairs and hydrogen-bonded structure are analyzed. To obtain a quantitative measure of the strength of H-bonds, the Bader's theory of atoms in molecule (AIM) was applied. The correlations between hydrogen bond lengths, their energies, and electron-topological parameters at the H center dot center dot center dot O bond critical point are presented.