This proposal requests funding for a high accuracy, gravimetric analyzer which will be used as a key part of a larger mission to study and understand the gas-sorption behavior of two classes of ionic liquids: CO2-absorbing ionic liquids and anesthetic gas-absorbing ionic liquids. They are focusing on the design, synthesis and characterization of these classes of ionic liquids for gas absorption with the goal of eventually developing them into practical separation agents. The approach is to design these compounds using their expertise in thermodynamics and organic chemistry. They will use computational methods to screen a preliminary library of prospective compounds for high gas solubility, from which they will synthesize promising candidates. Once synthesized, these compounds will be characterized in terms of their equilibrium, kinetic and thermal properties of absorption for a variety of gases and vapors. These analyses, along with existing measurement capabilities, including thermal (DSC), density and viscosity measurements, will provide the necessary data to determine which compounds are good candidates for practical use.
