Redox ionic liquid phases: ferrocenated imidazoliums.

This communication reports the synthesis of new intrinsically electroactive N-alkyl imidazolium ionic liquids useful for the investigation of charge transport phenomena in undiluted semisolid redox media. The redox site chosen is ferrocene, but the overall approach should be general for designing imidazolium-based molten salts. The ferrocene is attached to imidazolium with several structural variations, and preliminary voltammetry of a melt is presented.