Structural effects of polyethers and ionic liquids in their binary mixtures on lower critical solution temperature liquid-liquid phase separation

The solubility and phase behavior of five polyethers in 14 different room-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) were studied by changing the structures of polyethers and the cations and anions in the ILs. Certain combinations of a polyether and an IL binary mixture exhibited lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase behavior. The phase separation temperature (cloud point) was revealed to be sensitive to the aromaticity and alkyl chain length of the IL cations, the anionic Lewis basicities of the ILs and the polarity of the polyethers. PEGE, poly(ethyl glycidyl ether).