Electrolyte additives are a promising route to stable solution chemistries needed for improved and next-generation lithium-ion cells. Yet the underlying chemistry remains unknown for most additives and additive blends in use. This work presents possible reaction pathways for solid-electrolyte interphase formation in lithium-ion cells from ethylene sulfate (DTD), prop-1-ene-1,3-sultone (PES) and the binary PES/DTD blend. Pathways are supported by theoretical calculations (density functional theory) and experimental results (electrochemistry, gas chromatography thermal conductivity detection, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, isothermal microcalorimetry). A hypothesis to understand the synergistic chemistry of the blend is proposed: Reduction of PES, the 'primary additive', at the negative electrode forms a nucleophile that reacts with electrophilic DTD, the 'secondary additive', to produce a passive solid-electrolyte interphase that inhibits direct reduction of DTD or the solvent. The results are further discussed in the contexts of future mechanistic studies, computational additive discovery, and the development of improved lithium-ion cell chemistries. Stable electrolyte solution chemistries are essential for the development of higher voltage, faster charging, and longer-living lithium-ion cells as well as next-generation cell technologies (e.g., sodium-ion and lithium-air).1-4 To avoid electrolyte decomposition, many batteries in use today operate at much lower cell voltages than the capability of the electrode materials, often leaving a significant fraction of the theoretical capacity unused. [5][6][7] In recent years, chemical additives have been used in research and commercially available cells to increase cell stability limits to higher voltages and temperatures, creating industrial and academic interest in further additive development. 5,6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The potential to achieve cutting-edge performance with minimal changes to supply chains for electrolyte salts and solvents has tremendous practical appeal. However, the design of new additives for different applications still poses significant scientific challenges to which the emergence of additive blends in recent years adds further complexity. [19][20][21][22] Whereas the selection of new solution chemistries has traditionally followed a lengthy trial and error method, there is an increasing desire to streamline the process by applying modern calculations. High-throughput computational methods for the discovery of new compounds are by now well-developed, for example in the pharmaceutical field of drug discovery. [23][24][25] Quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics calculations have been suggested to offer similar potential for energy storage technology research, including the development of new electrode materials 26-28 and electrolyte solutions 29-32 for batteries. Yet before the computational discovery of new electrolyte additives may be realized, there is a need for a greater understanding of how additives function, at...