Ionic liquids based on dicyanamide anion: influence of structural variations in cationic structures on ionic conductivity.

A series of dicyanamide [N(CN)2]-based ionic liquids were prepared using 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations with different alkyl chain lengths and ethyl-containing heterocyclic cations with different ring structures, and the influence of such structural variations on their thermal property, density, electrochemical window, viscosity, ionic conductivity, and solvatochromic effects was investigated. We found that the 1,3-dimethylimidazolium salt shows the highest ionic conductivity among ionic liquids free from halogenated anions (3.6 x 10(-2) S cm(-1) at 25 degrees C), and the elongation of the alkyl chain causes the pronounced depression of fluidity and ionic conductivity. Also, such an elongation gives rise to the increase in the degree of ion association in the liquids, mainly caused by the van der Waals interactions between alkyl chains. N(CN)2 salts with 1-ethyl-2-methylpyrazolium (EMP) and N-ethyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium (PY(12)) cations as well as 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMI) cation are liquids at room temperature (RT), while the N-ethylthiazolium salt shows a melting event at higher temperature (57 degrees C). Among the three RT ionic liquids with ethyl-containing cations, RT ionic conductivity follows the order EMI > PY(12) > EMP, which does not coincide with the order of fluidity at RT (EMI > EMP > PY(12)). Such a discrepancy is originated from a high degree of ion dissociation in the PY(12) salt, which was manifested in the Walden rule deviation and solvatochromic effects. A series of N(CN)2/C(CN)3 binary mixtures of the EMI salts were also prepared. RT ionic conductivity decreases linearly with increasing the molar fraction of C(CN)3 anion.