The ionic liquids 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]) and 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([PMIM][BF4]) were studied by H,H-NOESY NMR using a cross-relaxation matrix analysis. Cross-peak intensities are seen to increase with increasing mixing time. Experimental and theoretical hydrogen-hydrogen distances are in agreement at short mixing times (50 ms). Mixing times longer than 50 ms result in an increasing contribution of spin diffusion that produces unrealistically short hydrogen-hydrogen distances. Gas-phase ab initio molecular structures are obtained using Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (B3LYP) methods at the 6311 + G(2d,p) basis set level. The hydrogen-hydrogen distances obtained from the theoretical structures are in reasonable agreement with those calculated from the cross-relaxation matrices.
Published in 2003 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.