Thermal stability and specific heats of coordinating ionic liquids

[Display omitted] •Dynamic TGA was carried out for five ionic liquids (ILs) to determine their termal stability.•Specific heats for the same ILs in the liquid phase were determined from 203.2–383.2 K.•For the ILs that change state in the above range, the corresponding changes were analysed. Ionic liquids (ILs) have been revealed as promising solvents, namelly for the selective extraction of metals from aqueous solutions. ILs extractive properties can be trimmed but to do that in a programmed and educated way it is necessary to know their basic properties. The range of temperature in which they can be used as solvents as well as their specific heat, necessary to perform thermodynamic calculations with them, are fundamental properties needed to achieve this desideratum. Thus, the goal of this work has been the study of the thermal stability and specific heats of five ionic liquids that proved to be good extractive solvents.