Thermodynamic Insights into the Binding of Mono- and Dicationic Imidazolium Surfactant Ionic Liquids with Methylcellulose in the Diluted Regime.

Alkylimidazolium salts are an important class of ionic liquids (ILs) due to their self-assembly capacity when in solution and due to their potential applications in chemistry and materials science. Therefore, detailed knowledge of the physicochemical properties of this class of ILs and their mixtures with natural polymers is highly desired. This work describes the interactions between a homologous series of mono- (CnMIMBr) and dicationic imidazolium (Cn(MIM)2Br2) ILs with cellulose ethers in aqueous medium. The effects of the alkyl chain length (n = 10, 12, 14, and 16), type, and concentration range of ILs (below and above their cmc) on the binding to methylcellulose (MC) were evaluated. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the interactions are favored by the increase of the IL hydrocarbon chain length, and that the binding of monocationic ILs to MC is driven by entropy. The monocationic ILs bind more effectively on the methoxyl group of MC when compared to dicationic ILs, and this outcome may be rationalized by considering the structural difference between the conventional (CnMIMBr) and the bolaform (Cn(MIM)2Br2) surfactant ILs. The C16MIMBr interacts more strongly with hydroxypropylcellulose when compared to methylcellulose, indicating that the strength of the interaction also depends on the hydrophobicity of the cellulose ethers. Our findings highlight that several parameters should be taken into account when designing new complex formulations.