We investigated the
temperature dependence of the intermolecular
vibrational dynamics of pyrrolidinium-based ionic liquids (ILs) with
10 different anion species using femtosecond Raman-induced Kerr effect
spectroscopy. The features of the temperature-dependent vibrational
spectra vary with the different anions. In the case of the ILs with
spherical top anions, such as tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate,
and trifluoromethanesulfonate, the spectral intensity in the low-frequency
region below 50 cm–1 increases with rising temperature,
while that in the high-frequency region above 50 cm–1 remains almost unchanged. Similar temperature-dependent features
were also found in the bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide and bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)amide
salts. However, the difference spectra at respective temperature relative
to 293 K indicate that the spectra of the bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide
and bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)amide salts are more temperature-sensitive
in the low-frequency region below 50 cm–1 compared
to those of the tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate, and trifluoromethanesulfonate
salts. The spectra of 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium-based ILs with
dicyanamide and tricyanomethide anions show a characteristic temperature
dependence; in addition to an increase of the spectral intensity in
the low-frequency region below 50 cm–1, a red shift
of the spectra in the high-frequency side above 50 cm–1 was observed with increasing temperature. This implies that the
librational motions of planar dicyanamide and tricyanomethide anions
contribute substantially to the low-frequency spectra. We also compared
the temperature-dependent low-frequency spectra of 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium-
and 1-(2-methoxyethyl)-1-methylpyrrolidinium-based ILs with some anions.
Although the spectral shapes are slightly different in the range of
70–150 cm–1, which can be attributed to the
intramolecular vibrational modes of the cations, the temperature dependence
of the spectral shapes is quite similar, indicating that the ether
substitution in the cation side groups has little effects on the temperature
dependence of the low-frequency spectra. The fragilities of the ILs
were also estimated from the temperature-dependent viscosities and
the glass-transition temperatures. The fragility parameter seems to
be correlated with the temperature dependence of the first moment
of the low-frequency spectral bands mainly arising from the intermolecular
vibrations of the ILs.