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Main Authors: Kamar, Mohammad Nadim, Mozhdehei, Armin, Dupont, Basma, Lefort, Ronan, Moréac, Alain, Ollivier, Jacques, Appel, Markus, Morineau, Denis
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18896
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author Kamar, Mohammad Nadim
Mozhdehei, Armin
Dupont, Basma
Lefort, Ronan
Moréac, Alain
Ollivier, Jacques
Appel, Markus
Morineau, Denis
author_facet Kamar, Mohammad Nadim
Mozhdehei, Armin
Dupont, Basma
Lefort, Ronan
Moréac, Alain
Ollivier, Jacques
Appel, Markus
Morineau, Denis
contents We investigated the molecular dynamics of the prototypical deep eutectic solvent (DES) ethaline. We disentangled the different motions of its two constituents, namely choline chloride and ethylene glycol on a spatio-temporal range that extends from sub-nanometer to micrometer distances and from picosecond to millisecond times. This was achieved by a combination of pulsed-field-gradient NMR, time-of-flight, and backscattering quasielastic neutron scattering experiments with isotopically labelled samples. On the micrometer scale, we observe that the translational motions of the two DES constituents obey classical hydrodynamics, with distinct diffusivities that reflect their different hydrodynamic radii. This is no longer valid at the nanometer-scale, where the two DES components present similar short-ranged diffusivities, which indicates a significant effect of their supramolecular association. The sub-nanometer scale motions include jumps that precede Fickian diffusion, and localized dynamics that precede the breaking of the transient cage formed by neighboring molecules. Therein, the spatial amplitude of the localized motions mirrors their different molecular sizes, while their respective correlation times contrast with observations made for other choline-based DES such as glyceline. This result underlines the importance of more subtle effects, such as the different H-bond propensities of the polyol donor, and demonstrate the difficulty to anticipate the nanoscale dynamic behavior of DES from the knowledge of their macroscopic properties.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_18896
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How special are the dynamics of deep eutectic solvents? A Look at the Prototypical Case of Ethaline
Kamar, Mohammad Nadim
Mozhdehei, Armin
Dupont, Basma
Lefort, Ronan
Moréac, Alain
Ollivier, Jacques
Appel, Markus
Morineau, Denis
Chemical Physics
We investigated the molecular dynamics of the prototypical deep eutectic solvent (DES) ethaline. We disentangled the different motions of its two constituents, namely choline chloride and ethylene glycol on a spatio-temporal range that extends from sub-nanometer to micrometer distances and from picosecond to millisecond times. This was achieved by a combination of pulsed-field-gradient NMR, time-of-flight, and backscattering quasielastic neutron scattering experiments with isotopically labelled samples. On the micrometer scale, we observe that the translational motions of the two DES constituents obey classical hydrodynamics, with distinct diffusivities that reflect their different hydrodynamic radii. This is no longer valid at the nanometer-scale, where the two DES components present similar short-ranged diffusivities, which indicates a significant effect of their supramolecular association. The sub-nanometer scale motions include jumps that precede Fickian diffusion, and localized dynamics that precede the breaking of the transient cage formed by neighboring molecules. Therein, the spatial amplitude of the localized motions mirrors their different molecular sizes, while their respective correlation times contrast with observations made for other choline-based DES such as glyceline. This result underlines the importance of more subtle effects, such as the different H-bond propensities of the polyol donor, and demonstrate the difficulty to anticipate the nanoscale dynamic behavior of DES from the knowledge of their macroscopic properties.
title How special are the dynamics of deep eutectic solvents? A Look at the Prototypical Case of Ethaline
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18896