Approaches to non-fluorinated tri-lithium salts for lithium-ion battery electrolytes have been investigated and one-pot syntheses of three new salts TLS-1, TLS-2 and TLS-3 are reported. These unusual lithium salts containing the N-Li moiety offer the potential for significant cost savings over the current battery standard, while exhibiting superior performance characteristics, including conductivities as high as 2.86 mS/cm, electrochemical stabilities from 0 to > 4.5 V, good solubilities in DMF, DMSO, and sulfolane, and compatibility with standard Li-ion cell electrode materials. Very good thermostability, measured by TGA and DSC, is also observed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.