The recent literature is surveyed to explore the nature of voltammetry in room temperature ionic liquids. The extent of similarities with conventional electrochemical solvents is reported and some surprising differences are noted.

Gaseous CO(2) is almost irreversibly absorbed by the room temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C(4)mim][Ac]) in which it undergoes a chemically irreversible, one electron electrochemical reduction, suggesting a means for the sequestration of the greenhouse gas.

The mechanism of sulfur dioxide reduction at a platinum microelectrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry in several room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) , the peak appears at -1.0 V, and potential step chronoamperometry was used to determine that SO 2 has a very high solubility of 3100 ( (450) (2) kJ mol -1 using chronoamperometric data at different temperatures. The stabilizing interaction of the solvent with the reduced species SO 2 -• leads to a different mechanism than that observed in conventional aprotic solvents. The high sensitivity of the system to SO 2 also suggests that [C 4 mim][NO 3 ] may be a viable solvent in gas sensing applications.

This work explores the effects of argon and nitrogen, two electrochemically and chemically inert gases frequently used in sample preparation of room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) solutions, on the electrochemical characterization of ferrocene (Fc) dissolved in the RTIL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([C 2 mim][NTf 2 ]). Remarkably, chronoamperometrically determined diffusion coefficients of Fc in [C 2 mim][NTf 2 ] are found to increase from 4.8 ((0.2) × 10 -11 m 2 s -1 under vacuum conditions to 6.6 ((0.5) × 10 -11 m 2 s -1 in an atmosphere of 1 atm Ar. In contrast, exposing a vacuum-purified sample to an atmosphere of 1 atm N 2 resulted in no significant change in the measured diffusion coefficient of Fc. The effect of dissolved argon on diffusion transport is unexpected and has implications in electrochemistry and elsewhere. Fc was found to volatilize under vacuum conditions. We propose, however, that evacuation of the cell by vacuum prior to electrochemical measurements being carried out is the only way to ensure that no contamination of the sample occurs, and use of an in situ method of determining the diffusion coefficient and concentration of Fc dispells any ambiguity associated with Fc depletion by vacuum.