Uses of Ionic Liquids in Analytical Chemistry

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are salts with melting points close or below room temperature. They form liquids in which ions are present. This fact produces interesting solvent properties. RTIL are able to dissolve some apolar molecules as well as some very polar ones. They start to find original use in chemical analysis. Since some RTILs are not soluble in water, they can be used in water/RTIL extractions. The distribution coefficients of a variety of solutes were measured. Our results are presented and discussed along with the results of others. RTILs were also used as electrolytes in capillary electrophoresis. Their low volatility makes them useful as solvent working in high vacuum (MALDI matrixes) or high temperature (GC stationary phases). Examples of such uses were developed and are also discussed. * on leave on a Marie Curie Fellowship from Area de Química Analitica, Universidad de Jaime I, Castellón, Spain Figure 1: Number of articles published worldwide per year on the subject “room temperature ionic liquids” (2002 = estimate) (Chemical Abstracts, Current