Mapping the “Extra Solvent Power, ESP” of Ionic Liquids for Monomers, Polymers and Globular Nanoparticles

Understanding the miscibility behavior of ionic liquid (IL) / monomer, IL / polymer and IL / nanoparticle mixtures is critical for the use of ILs as green solvents in polymerization processes, and to rationalize recent observations concerning the superior solubility of some proteins in ILs when compared to standard solvents. In this work, the most relevant results obtained in terms of a three-component Flory-Huggins theory concerning the “Extra Solvent Power, ESP” of ILs when compared to traditional non-ionic solvents for monomeric solutes (case I), linear polymers (case II) and globular nanoparticles (case III) are presented. Moreover, useful ESP maps are drawn for the first time for IL mixtures corresponding to case I, II and III. Finally, a potential pathway to improve the miscibility of non-ionic polymers in ILs is also proposed.