Interest in alternative solvents to replace volatile organic compounds is on the increase, so improved understanding of the properties of these alternatives is needed. One class of solvents researchers are keen to learn more about are the room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). Researchers have commonly used absorption or fluorescence to study solvation properties. But now scientists in Japan, have carried out a Raman spectroscopic study of a series of RTILs using diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) and phenol blue (PB) as probes to reveal information about solvent acceptor numbers. Their results could have implications for the use of these “green” solvents.
Find out more in my latest news write-up on SpectroscopyNOW (Raman channel)