Molar enthalpies
of mixing (H
E) were
measured for the following deep eutectic solvents (DESs): {choline
chloride + glycerol}, {choline chloride + ethylene glycol}, {tetrabutylammonium
chloride + glycerol}, and {tetrabutylammonium chloride + ethylene
glycol} at 323.15 K and molar ratios of 1:4, 1:3, 1:2 and 1:1. Results
show that all systems are endothermic, with H
E values ranging from 1.90 to 5.35 kJ·mol–1. Results indicate that the intermolecular interactions between the
molecules of the pure components are stronger than those of the DESs
complexes. To shed some light on the mutual interactions between the
molecules within the mixtures, effects of the hydrogen bond acceptor
structure (HBA), hydrogen bond donor structure (HBD), and concentration
(HBA:HBD molar ratio) were analyzed. The nature of the HBA salt is
the most important: choline chloride-based systems required almost
twice as much energy as tetrabutylammonium chloride-based systems
in order to form the DES mixture, most likely because of a higher
enthalpy of fusion of the choline-based HBA salt. Choline chloride
is more stable than tetrabutylammonium chloride because of its hydroxyl
group; consequently, more energy is needed to break the choline chloride
interactions in order to form DES mixtures with glycerol or ethylene
glycol. Other effects suggest a competition in the formation of hydrogen
bonds among the pure species (like molecular interactions) and the
DES complexes (unlike molecular interactions). Overall, this work
reports a systematic evaluation of H
E for
a series of representative DESs that elucidates the roles of HBD and
HBA in the energy penalty required for DES formation, which is critical
for assessing their potential in practical applications on an industrial
scale.