Toward solvent screening in the extractive desulfurization using ionic liquids: QSPR modeling and experimental validations

•QSPR models were developed for prediction of distribution coefficient of thiophene.•A large dataset with 84 different ternary system and 763 data points was employed.•Cation, anion, and hydrocarbon effect on the thiophene distribution was studied.•LLE data for a large number of new ternary systems was predicted using QSPR model.•The validity of the QSPR model was confirmed using new measured experimental data.