Order in the chaos: the secret of the large negative entropy of dissolving 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride in trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride.

The dissolution of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ILs with short alkyl chains in trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride does not only exhibit a large negative entropy. Also, in the resulting mixtures, the phosphonium cation diffuses faster than the much smaller imidazolium cation. Both unexpected features originate from the formation of a large symmetric ion cluster cage in which the imidazolium cation is caught by three chloride anions and four phosphonium cations.