• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.2325-2332
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• 2012

A series $[C_3Omim]$[X] of imidazolium cation-based ILs, with ether functional group on the alkyl side-chain have been synthesized and structure of the materials were confirmed by various techniques like $^1H$, $^{13}C$ NMR spectroscopy, MS-ESI, FTIR spectroscopy and EA. More specifically, the influence of changing the anion with same cation is carried out. The absorption capacity of $CO_2$ for ILs were evaluated at 30 and $50^{\circ}C$ at ambient pressure (0-1.6 bar). Ether functionalized ILs shows significantly high absorption capacity for $CO_2$. In general, the $CO_2$ absorption capacity of ILs increased with a rise in pressure and decreased when temperature was raised. The obtained results showed that absorption capacity reached about 0.9 mol $CO_2$ per mol of IL at $30^{\circ}C$. The most probable mechanism of interaction of $CO_2$ with ILs were investigated using FTIR spectroscopy, $^{13}C$ NMR spectroscopy and result shows that the absorption of $CO_2$ in ether functionalized ILs is a chemical process. The $CO_2$ absorption results and detailed study indicates the predominance of 1:1 mechanism, where the $CO_2$ reacts with one IL to form a carbamic acid. The $CO_2$ absorption capacity of ILs for different anions follows the trend: $BF_4$ < DCA < $PF_6$ < TfO < $Tf_2N$. Moreover, the as-synthesized ILs is selective, thermally stable, long life operational and can be recycled at a temperature of $70^{\circ}C$ or under vacuum and can be used repeatedly.