Replacing imidazole with benz-imidazole: a promising approach to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of imidazolium based surface active ionic liquids for greener electrosynthesis

Abstract

We present the synthesis of a novel benzimidazolium-based surface active ionic liquid (SAIL), 3-dodecyl-1H-3λ-benzo[d]imidazole chloride, a SAIL with excellent surface activity and self-aggregation tendency whose aqueous micellar solutions offer exceptional solubilizing capacity and electrocatalytic performance for efficient electrocarboxylation of halocarbons.