EFFECT OF ANION CHAIN-LENGTH ON THE SOLVENT PROPERTIES OF LIQUID TETRABUTYLAMMONIUM ALKYLSULFONATE SALTS STUDIED BY GAS-LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Several tetrabutylammonium alkylsulfonate salts were synthesized and their physico-chemical properties were studied by gas-liquid chromatography. Although increasing the alkylsulfonate chain length resulted in unpredictable physical properties such as melting points, the general solution properties of the salts varied systematically, depending on the nature of the solute-solvent interactions being evaluated. Gas-liquid partition coefficients for various selectivity probes indicate a net increase in solute-solvent interactions for non-polar probes as the anion chain length is increased whereas there is a small decrease in the solute-solvent interactions for polar selectivity probes. For all of the salts studied, interfacial adsorption makes a negligible contribution to the retention mechanism of the solutes studied.