Formal Redox Potentials of Organic Molecules in Ionic Liquids on the Basis of Quaternary Nitrogen Cations as Adiabatic Electron Affinities

Formal redox potentials E°' involving neutral species R and radical anions R(•-) in ionic liquids (ILs) composed of ammonium, pyridinium, and imidazolium cations are discussed from the point of view of the adiabatic electron affinity as a molecular property. The dependence of the 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ)/BQ(•-) redox process in CH2Cl2 and CH3CN is primarily investigated over a wide concentration range of ILs as the supporting electrolyte. A logarithmic relationship involving a positive shift of E°' with increasing concentration is obtained when the concentration is changed from 0.01 to 1.0 M. The relationship of E°' at IL concentrations greater than 1.0 M gradually reaches a plateau and remains there even for the neat ILs. It is found that the E°' values in the neat ILs are not influenced by the measurement conditions, and that they remain considerably dependent on the nature and concentration of the electrolyte when measured using the traditional method involving molecular solvents combined with a supporting electrolyte (0.1-0.5 M). The difference in the E°' values observed in the ammonium and pyridinium ILs is only several millivolts. In addition, ESR and self-consistent isodensity polarized continuum model calculation results reveal that the potential shift toward positive values upon the transition from molecular solvents containing ILs to neat ILs is adequately accounted for by changes in the electrostatic interaction of R(•-) taken into the cavity composed of the solvent and IL. On the other hand, the first reduction waves of quinones, electron-accepting molecules, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons are reversibly or quasi-reversibly observed in the ILs. The electrochemical stability of the ILs is exploited in the facile measurement of these quasi-reversible waves at quite negative potentials, such as for the naphthalene (NP)/NP(•-) couple. Notably, the E°' values obtained in the ammonium ILs correlate well with the calculated standard redox potentials and are linearly fitted with high correlation over all classes of compounds using a single regression equation based on Koopmans' theorem.