Novel ionic liquids and plastic crystals utilizing the cyanate anion

Abstract

In line with the continuing growth in the use of ionic liquids, and an ever-present requirement for high conductivity electrolytes for a range of electrochemical devices, there is a strong demand for the development of novel salts with the required physical properties. Thus, in this work a series of new cyanate-based ionic liquids and organic ionic plastic crystals have been synthesized and their physical properties are reported. Some of the salts form organic ionic plastic crystals with high ionic conductivity, indicating their potential use as solid state electrolytes. It is also shown that the ionic liquids have potential applications in the extraction of transition metal ions or the dissolution of metallic gold.