Hydrogen-bond dynamics in a protic ionic liquid : evidence of large-angle jumps

We study the molecular rotation of the protic room-temperature ionic liquid ethylammonium nitrate with dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and femtosecond-infrared spectroscopy (fs-IR) of the ammonium N-H vibrations. The results suggest that the rotation of ethylammonium ion takes place via large angular jumps. Such nondiffusive reorientational dynamics is unique to strongly hydrogen-bonded liquids such as water and indicates that the intermolecular interaction is highly directional in this class of ionic liquids.