title: Phase Transfer of Nanoparticles Using an Amphiphilic Ionic Liquid.
abstract: The phase transfer of nanoparticles (NPs) from water to organic solvents by an amphiphilic room-temperature ionic liquid (IL) was reported. The geminal IL modified with Pluronic P123 stabilizes a variety of NPs of different size and nature, such as Pd, Au, Ag, and SiO2NPs. Their phase transfer into a hydrophobic environment was realized by raising the temperature and adding salts (such as NaCl and KBr), both of which have a common effect of breaking the hydrogen bonds of the IL with H2O. A more straightforward method of using an organic solvent working as a hydrogen bond donor (such as butyl alcohol) was then proposed. In this case, NaCl was no longer required. To further apply this strategy to the organic solvents that are generally incapable of forming hydrogen bonds (e.g., toluene), a small quantity of benzoic acid was added to the organic phase. By forming hydrogen bonds from benzoic acid to the IL, an even more facile approach was provided. FT-IR confirmed the hydrogen bonding between them. The phase-transfer protocol does not rely on coordination bonding of ligands with a specific metal and is capable of the phase transfer of objects with large sizes and different natures. Thus, it has the potential for wide application.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crystalline Materials, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Wenbao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: Jiangang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crystalline Materials, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: Fengwei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crystalline Materials, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China.|Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4229-2796
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Zhenshan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crystalline Materials, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Ming
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8809-3402
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhang