Ionic liquids studied using NMR

The first steps towards performing routine NMR spectroscopy in ionic liquids have been taken by a group of scientists working in Germany.

Ralf Giernoth and co-workers at the University of K?ln have developed high performance NMR techniques so that reactions in ionic liquids can be studied to levels of resolution similar to those achieved in more conventional solvents.

Ionic liquids have been hailed as new ’green’ solvents but to date there have been no routine spectroscopic methods available to understand their structure and reactions.

Giernoth and his group hope their work will be used by others as a basis for future in situ spectroscopic studies. ’We are most certainly only at the beginning of a large field of research. There is still so much to learn,’ he said.

Katherine Davies