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.
Keywords: dielectric spectroscopy; ethylammonium nitrate; liquid dynamics; molecular rotation; time-resolved infrared spectroscopy.