Characterizing the structural properties of N,N-dimethylformamide-based ionic liquid: density-functional study.

Amide-based ionic liquids are receiving great enthusiasm recently. In this work, the structures of a kind of N,N-dimethylformamide-based (DMF-based) ionic liquid are investigated theoretically by means of density-functional theory methods. Enol and keto forms of the cation with anions are optimized. The enol form of the DMFH+ cation can form three stable configurations of ion pairs with the anion, while the cation of the keto form is unstable and the proton transfer occurs to form three kinds of neutral molecule pairs. Moreover, the neutral pairs are more stable than the ion pairs, and the ion pairs tend to tautomerize to neutral pairs without barriers. It is suggested that the transformation from the ion pairs to neutral pairs may be the first step for decomposition of DMF-based ionic liquids.