Periodicity and map for discovery of new ionic liquids

There is virtually no limit in the number of ionic liquids. How to select proper ones or discover new ones with desirable properties in such a large pool of ionic liquids? It has become a bottleneck in the researches and applications of ionic liquids. Mendeleev’s periodic law states that the properties of the elements vary periodically. Whether the similar regularity exists among ionic or molecular fragments of compounds is an interesting topic. In this work, we attempted to establish a periodicity and draw a “map” of ionic liquids for providing definite guidance to discover, design, and select the proper ionic liquids rather than trial-and-error. If a complete regularity of the system of ionic liquids can be finally established in the future, we are near an epoch in understanding the existing differences and the reasons for the similarity of the ions or molecular fragments.