Ionic liquids (ILs) are novel media characterized by strong interactions with different organic substances which leads to a wide spectrum of applications involving extraction. Ionic liquids have been used as a solvent for sugar alcohols, sugars and hydrates. This work demonstrates the experimental and theoretical study of (liquid + liquid) phase equilibria for two sugar alcohols, D-sorbitol and xylitol in a few ILs based on different cations and anions (namely, 1-ethyl-1-methylpiperidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [EMPIP] [NTf2], 1-hexyl-1-methylpiperidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [HMPIP][NTf2], N-hexylquinolinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [HQuin][NTf2], N-hexylisoquinolinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [HiQuin][NTf2], 1-butyl-1-methylimidazolium 4,5-dicyano-2-(trifluoromethyl)-imidazolide [BMIM] [TDI] and 1-(cyanomethyl)-3-methylimidazolium 4,5-dicyano-2-(trifluoromethyl)-imidazolide [CCNMIM] [TDI]). This study was conducted to assess the applicability of the studied ILs for dissolution of these biomass-related materials. (Liquid + liquid) phase equilibrium diagrams (LLE) in binary systems (sugar alcohol + ionic liquid) were measured using the dynamic technique. The influence of the chemical structure of both the ionic liquids and sugar alcohols were established and is discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.