Patent ID: 8513464

Claim:
A composition comprising: (a) CO 2 from a source other than air; and (b) a switchable solvent formed by combining: an amount of at least one R′OH, water, or a combination thereof, wherein R′ is alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, silyl, or siloxyl, and may be linear, branched, or cyclic, and may be substituted or unsubstituted; with an amount of a compound of formula (1) wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are independently H; a substituted or unsubstituted C 1 to C 10 alkyl group that is linear or branched; a substituted or unsubstituted C 3 to C 10 cycloalkyl group; a substituted or unsubstituted C n Si m group where n and m are independently a number from 0 to 10 and n+m is a number from 1 to 10; a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group optionally containing one or more {—Si(R 6 ) 2 —O—} units; or a substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl group optionally containing one or more {—Si(R 6 ) 2 —O—} units; R 6 is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, or alkoxy moiety; and wherein the compound of formula (1) and the corresponding ionic liquid of formula (2) may be a monocyclic or bicyclic ring structure; wherein the compound of formula (1) reversibly converts to an ionic liquid of formula (2) in the presence of the CO 2 , wherein R is H or R′ as defined above, and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , and R 4 are as defined above; and wherein the amount of the compound of formula (1) is approximately equimolar to or greater than equimolar to the amount of the at least one R′OH, water, or combination thereof.