Ultrafast dynamics of pyrrolidinium cation ionic liquids

We have investigated the ultrafast molecular dynamics of five pyrrolidinium cation room temperature ionic liquids using femtosecond optical heterodyne-detected Raman-induced Kerr effect spectroscopy. The ionic liquids studied are N -butyl- N -methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide P 14 + NTf2-), N -methoxyethyl- N -methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide P 1EOE + NTf2-), N -ethoxyethyl- N -methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide P 1EOE + NTf2-), N -ethoxyethyl- N -methylpyrrolidinium bromide P 1EOE +, and N -ethoxyethyl- N -methylpyrrolidinium dicyanoamide P 1EOE + DCA-). For comparing dynamics among the five ionic liquids, we categorize the ionic liquids into two groups. One group of liquids comprises the three pyrrolidinium cations P 14 +, P 1EOM +, and P 1EOE + paired with the NTf2- anion. The other group of liquids consists of the P 1EOE + cation paired with each of the three anions NTf2-, Br-, and DCA-. The overdamped relaxation for time scales longer than 2 ps has been fit by a triexponential function for each of the five pyrrolidinium ionic liquids. The fast (~2 ps) and intermediate (~20 ps) relaxation time constants vary little among these five ionic liquids. However, the slow relaxation time constant correlates with the viscosity. Thus, the Kerr spectra in the range from 0 to 750 cm-1 are quite similar for the group of three pyrrolidinium ionic liquids paired with the NTf2- anion. The intermolecular vibrational line shapes between 0 and 150 cm-1 are fit to a multimode Brownian oscillator model; adequate fits required at least three modes to be included in the line shape.