Chemical potentials of water and organic solutes in imidazolium ionic liquids: a simulation study

The excess chemical potentials of a series of molecules dissolved in the ionic liquid dimethyl imidazolium chloride have been determined by a series of transformations. The molecules are water, methanol, dimethyl ether, acetone and propane. Water and methanol have large negative values of the excess chemical potential (-29 kJ mol-(1) and -14 kJ mol(-1) respectively); the polar molecules dimethyl ether and acetone have positive values of about 7 kJ mol(-1) while the value for propane is +26 kJ mol(-1). Hydrogen bonding to the anion plays an important part in the stabilization of water and methanol.