Extraction of benzene or thiophene from n-heptane using ionic liquids. NMR and thermodynamic study.

In this work, (1)H and (31)P NMR spectroscopy were used to study the interactions between thiophene or benzene with three imidazolium based ionic liquids (ILs): 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, 1,3-dimethylimidazolium methylphosphonate, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate. NMR study indicates that solubility of thiophene or benzene in ionic liquid strongly depends on the structure of the ionic liquid. Structural organizations of such systems have been proposed. From these results, liquid-liquid equilibria (LLE) measurements of ternary mixtures containing benzene or thiophene with n-heptane and these ILs were carried out at 298.15 K in order to check the ability of these ILs to act as extractive solvents.