Interactions of fluorinated gases with ionic liquids: Solubility of CF 4, C2F6, and C3F8 in trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide

The interactions between ionic liquids and totally fluorinated alkanes are investigated by associating gas solubility measurements with molecular simulation calculations. Experimental values for the solubility of perfluoromethane, perfluoroethane, and perfluoropropane in one ionic liquid-trihexyltetradecylphophonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide [P _6,6,6,14][Ntf₂] - are reported between 303 and 343 K and close to atmospheric pressure. All mole fraction solubilities decrease with increasing temperature. From the variation of Henry's law constants with temperature, the thermodynamic functions of solvation were calculated. The precision of the experimental data, considered as the average absolute deviation of the Henry's law constants from appropriate smoothing equations, is always better than ± 3%. By the analysis of the differences between the solute-solvent radial distribution functions of perfluoromethane and perfluoropropane obtained by molecular simulation, it was possible to explain why solubility increases with the size of the perfluoroalkane. The trend of solubility is explained on the basis of the location of the solute with respect to the solvent ions as well as on the differences in the solute-solvent energies of interaction.