Theses and Dissertations
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6577-3812
Advisor
Patrick, Amanda
Committee Member
Mlsna, Todd
Committee Member
Emerson, Joseph
Date of Degree
5-15-2026
Original embargo terms
Visible MSU Only 1 year
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only
Major
Chemistry
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.)
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Department of Chemistry
Abstract
Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts that are liquid at or below ~100°C, with many applications. Methods to identify and quantify ILs across their structural diversity are currently insufficient, often using chromatographic stationary phases that are not ideal for some IL subclasses and/or mobile phases incompatible with electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). This thesis focuses on addressing this gap for imidazolium IL cations with small hydrocarbon and/or polar substituents. The pentafluorophenylpropyl (PFPP) stationary phase was selected for compatibility with the target analytes. Mobile phase composition was explored to balance chromatographic and ESI-MS performance. All six IL cations interacted with the selected stationary phase and all but one of the neighbor peak sets were baseline resolved using 20/80 acetonitrile/water as the mobile phase. Retention behavior with varying mobile phase composition was explored and contextualized with literature results to gain additional insights into the stationary phase and method development for this class of compounds.
Sponsorship (Optional)
US National Science Foundation (award CHE-2319939) and Research Corporation for Science Advancement (Cottrell Scholars #28166)
Recommended Citation
Lawson, Hannah, "Exploring the separation of ionic liquid cations using a pentafluorophenylpropyl (PFPP) column for ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) detection" (2026). Theses and Dissertations. 6933.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/6933
