The long-term thermal stability of ionic liquids is of utmost importance for their industrial application. Although the thermal decomposition temperatures of various ionic liquids have been measured previously, experimental data on the thermal decomposition mechanisms and kinetics are scarce. It is desirable to develop quantitative chemical tools that can predict thermal decomposition mechanisms and temperatures (kinetics) of ionic liquids. In this work ab initio quantum chemical calculations (DFT-B3LYP) have been used to predict thermal decomposition mechanisms, temperatures and the activation energies of the thermal breakdown reactions. These quantum chemical calculations proved to be an excellent method to predict the thermal stability of various ionic liquids. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.