Thiol‐Ene Click Chemistry as a Tool for a Novel Family of Polymeric Ionic Liquids

Functionalized pyrrolidinium compounds, 3‐((2‐hydroxyethylthio)methyl)‐1,1,4‐trimethylpyrrolidinium and 3‐((2‐carboxyethylthio)methyl)‐1,1,4‐trimethylpyrrolidinium chlorides, are prepared from N , N ‐diallyl‐ N , N ‐dimethylammonium chloride by radical thiol‐ene addition and are utilized as building blocks in the synthesis of “ionic liquid‐like monomers.” “Polymeric ionic liquids” with highest molecular weights are obtained in water from chloride monomers followed by ionic exchange with lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide. Synthesized polymers demonstrate negligible water absorption (<0.1 wt%). Copolymerization with polyethyleneglycol di‐ and monomethacrylates leads to the conductive self‐standing tough films with ionic conductivity up to 2.8 × 10 −7 /1.3 × 10 −6 S cm −1 at 25 °C.