Abstract
A hybrid, potentially green solvent system composed of tetraethylene glycol (TEG) and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) was investigated across all mole fractions with regard to the solvent properties of the mixture. For this purpose, a suite of absorbance- and fluorescence-based solvatochromic probes were utilized to explore solute-solvent and solvent-solvent interactions existing within the [bmim][PF6] + TEG system. These studies revealed an interesting and unusual synergistic solvent effect. In particular, a remarkable “hyperpolarity” was observed in which the ET value, comprising dipolarity/polarizability and hydrogen bond donor (HBD) acidity contributions, at intermediate mole fractions of the binary mixture well exceeded that of the most polar pure component (i.e., [bmim][PF6]). Independently determined dipolarity/polarizability (π*) and HBD acidity (R) Kamlet-Taft values for the [bmim][PF6] + TEG mixtures were also observed to be anomalously high at intermediate mole fractions, whereas hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) basicities ( values) were much more in line with the ideal arithmetic values predicted on a mole fraction basis.