Tandem catalytic condensation and hydrogenation processes in ionic liquids

A domino reaction composed of a Knoevenagel condensation combined with a simultaneous catalytic hydrogenation is reported in an ionic liquid solvent under mild conditions (298-363 K and 300 kPa). No interference between the catalysts (Pd/C and amine acetate salt) of the two diverse steps was monitored. The product could be neatly extracted by diethyl ether and the solvent containing the catalysts could be recycled and reused five times without any loss in activity or selectivity. The same methodology in a common organic solvent such as DMA resulted in significant competing parallel hydrogenation of the aldehyde to alcohol.     

Mandelate and prolinate ionic liquids: synthesis, characterization, catalytic and biological activity

A group of quaternary ammonium mandelates and l-prolinates, as ionic liquids, were synthesized and characterized. The prepared salts were soluble in water and showed high surface activity. The described synthesis of l-prolinate was simple and the obtained ionic liquid contained a chiral anion. l-Prolinate in CH₂Cl₂ was employed for the asymmetric Michael addition of a ketone to nitrostyrene. A yield of 60%, enantioselectivity (upto 50% ee), and good diastereoselectivity (syn/anti ratio of up to 90:10) were obtained for the asymmetric addition of cyclohexanone. These novel ionic liquids proved to be very effective anti-microbial and anti-fungal agents, especially didecyldimethylammonium l-prolinate. Additionally, it was found that phytotoxicity can be a useful tool in assessing the optical forms of ionic liquids.     

Alanine-supported protic ionic liquids as efficient catalysts for aldol condensation reactions

A series of novel protic ionic liquids were immobilized on alanine, a cheap readily available amino acid. These short aliphatic chain ionic liquids have a low cost of preparation, a low toxicity, and need simple synthesis/purification processes. Their catalytic activity was tested for citral–acetone and benzaldehyde–acetone condensations, two reactions with an interest for pharmacological as well as flavor and fragrance industry. Good results were obtained in terms of conversion and selectivity; moreover, the catalysts can be recycled and reused for several consecutive cycles without significant loss of activity.     

Hydrotalcite catalysis in ionic liquid medium: a recyclable reaction system for heterogeneous Knoevenagel and nitroaldol condensation

Knoevenagel condensation proceeds efficiently in recyclable [bmim]PF₆ and [bmim]BF₄ without any catalyst, and hydrotalcites in ionic liquid serve as a safe and recyclable reaction system for both Knoevenagel as well as nitroaldol condensations.     

New chiral imidazolium ionic liquids: 3D-network of hydrogen bonding

New hydrophobic chiral ionic liquids bearing an imidazolium core have been stereospecifically prepared from the chiral pool; their enantiomeric purity and 3D-network of hydrogen bonding were analysed by NMR and X-ray diffraction, respectively.     

Polystyrene-supported chloroaluminate ionic liquid as a new heterogeneous Lewis acid catalyst for Knoevenagel condensation

Non-hygroscopic polystyrene-supported chloroaluminate ionic liquid was prepared from the reaction of Memfield resin with 1- methylimidazole followed by reaction with aluminum chloride.This Lewis acidic ionic liquid is environmentally friendly heterogeneous catalyst for the Knoevenagel condensation of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes with ethyl cyanoacetate.The catalyst is stable(as a bench top catalyst) and reusable.     

Pyrylium sulfonate based ionic liquids

Pyrylium salts represent a new group of ionic liquids (ILs) containing a positive charge on the oxygen atom. The novel ILs were obtained starting with 4-pyrones from petroleum feedstock and renewable resources and sulfonic acids. The use of carboxylic acids instead of salts resulted in the formation of cocrystals. The synthesized pyrylium ionic liquids were stable in air and in contact with water and common organic solvents. The permanganate indices which are characteristic for prepared sulfonates were also investigated. The pyrylium ionic liquids were useful as immobilizers and dissolving agents in hydrosilylation reactions.     

Neat benzoin condensation in recyclable room-temperature ionic liquids under ultrasonic activation

A new method for the benzoin condensation is proposed in imidazolium-based ionic liquids as solvents/catalysts. The use of a 30 kHz ultrasonic irradiation as activation method provides a quantitative yield of benzoin in 1-octyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bromide without degrading the ionic medium which can be-reused at least three times with no loss of activity.     

Synthesis and preliminary use of novel acrylic ester-derived task-specific ionic liquids

Novel electrophilic alkenes bearing an ionic liquid-type appendage have been prepared and used in Diels-Alder cycloadditions, 1,4-additions, Heck couplings and Stetter reactions; this new type of support allows easy monitoring of the reactions by NMR and MS as well as simple and efficient work-up and isolation procedures.     

Design and synthesis of fused-ring chiral ionic liquids from amino acid derivatives

Six novel imidazolium salts, which contain a chiral moiety as well as a fused-ring system, have been designed, synthesized, and fully characterized. The synthesis of these ionic liquids is concise and practical due to the commercial availability of the starting materials. These imidazolium compounds were readily prepared from 1-methyl-2-imidazoliumcarboxaldehyde and chiral amino alcohols. Salts that contain the PF₆ anion were solids, but salts with the NTf₂ anion were liquids at room temperature. We envision that these new chiral imidazolium compounds can serve as effective reaction media as well as chiral catalysts for asymmetric reactions, which are presently being investigated in our lab.     

Catalytic olefin epoxidation with cyclopentadienyl-molybdenum complexes in room temperature ionic liquids

Complexes of the type (η⁵-C₅R₅)Mo(CO)₃X (X = Me, Cl; R = H, Me), being efficient homogeneous catalysts for the epoxidation of olefins, have been examined for their catalytic performance at 55 °C in systems containing room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) of composition [BMIM]NTf₂, [BMIM]PF₆, [C₈MIM]PF₆ and [BMIM]BF₄. The catalytic performance for cyclooctene epoxidation depends strongly on the water content of the system, the catalyst solubility in the RTIL, and the reaction behaviour of the RTIL under the applied reaction conditions. The catalysts can be recycled without significant loss of activity when a reaction system containing [BMIM]NTf₂ and [BMIM]PF₆ in a 4:1 relationship is used. High proportions of [BMIM]PF₆ lead to a ring opening reaction (diol formation), due to HF formation and the presence of residual water.     

Tandem catalysis in ionic liquids: a recyclable catalytic synthesis of benzofuran derivatives

A convenient, recyclable catalytic synthesis of benzofuran-2-acetic esters 2 by sequential Pd(0)-catalyzed deallylation—Pd(II)-catalyzed carbonylative heterocyclization of 1-(2-allyloxyphenyl)-2-yn-1-ols 1 in ionic liquids is presented. Reactions were typically carried out in BmimBF₄ as the solvent at 100 °C and under 30 atm of CO, in the presence of catalytic amounts (1 mol %) of PdI₂ in conjunction with KI (1 equiv), PPh₃ (4 mol %), MeOH (28 equiv), and H₂O (2 equiv). The solvent-catalyst system could be recycled several times without appreciable loss of catalytic activity.     

Preparation of colorless ionic liquids “on water” for spectroscopy

Although colorless ionic liquids (ILs) are most desirable, as synthesized they frequently bear color, despite appearing pure by most analytical techniques. It leads to some uncertainties and limits for the fundamental research and applications of ILs, such as spectroscopy. Using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (BMIMBr), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIMBF₄) and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (HMIMBr) as models, we demonstrated that following classic preparing method except that the water was added as solvent, colorless ILs could be facilely prepared. Neither critical pre-treatment of starting materials and pre-cautions during the reaction nor time-consuming and costly post-decolor-purification was needed. The effects of “on water” reaction conditions on preparing colorless IL and the reason why using water as solvent could produce colorless ILs were also preliminary investigated. It was found that the reactant solubility played an important role in the preparation of colorless ILs. Not only as a method to evaluate the quality of as-synthesized ILs, but also as a spectroscopic analytical applications, UV-vis spectra showed that the ILs by this “on water” method was spectral pure and sufficient for future fundamental spectroscopic research and applications.     

Epoxidation in ionic liquids: A comparison of rhenium(VII) and molybdenum(VI) catalysts

Complexes of the type (dimethyl-bpy)MoO₂Cl₂ and Schiff/Lewis-base complexes of methyltrioxorhenium (MTO), being efficient homogeneous catalysts for the epoxidation of olefins, have been examined with respect to their catalytic performance at 55 and 25 °C in systems employing room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) of composition [BMIM]NTf₂, [BMIM]PF₆, [BMIM]BF₄ and [C₈MIM]PF₆ as solvents. The performance in the cyclooctene epoxidation was observed to be strongly dependent on the water content of the system and the catalyst solubility in the RTIL. MTO based systems prove to be superior with respect to lower energy consumption, higher stability and higher product yields compared to the investigated Mo(VI) system under the conditions applied.     

Recent progress in biphasic catalytic systems using ionic liquids

Catalytic reactions in two liquid phases containing ionic liquids (ILs), in which organic reactions proceed in the ILs phase and products are extracted to the other liquid phase, are efficient and environmentally benign. This short review briefly reports the development of catalytic application in biphasic systems containing ILs in the last two years. Recent progress for the functionalization of ILs themselves and combinations of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts with ILs are described. Prospects and future challenges are also addressed.     

Indirect catalytic epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide electrogenerated in ionic liquids

Hydrogen peroxide was generated in room temperature ionic liquids by electrolysis, which was then used for the epoxidation of lipophilic alkenes under a carbon dioxide-saturated environment and in the presence of catalytic amount of manganese salt. ¹³C NMR showed that the active peroxymonocarbonate (HCO₄⁻) was generated from the mixture of H₂O₂, CO₂, and water in the ionic liquids. Most lipophilic alkenes were selectively epoxidized within 4-5 h. The ionic liquids can be recovered and reused without any deterioration in the performance.     

Synthesis and physical properties of new layered double hydroxides based on ionic liquids: Application to a polylactide matrix

Ionic liquids based on tetraalkylphosphonium salts combined with different anions (decanoate and dodecylsulfonate) have been used as intercalating agents of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) by ion exchange. The synthesized phosphonium-treated LDHs display a dramatically improved thermal degradation and a significant increase in the interlayer distance as confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD), respectively. To highlight the effect of thermostable ionic liquids, a very low amount of LDHs has been introduced within a polylactide (PLA) matrix and PLA/LDHs nanocomposites have been processed in melt by twin-screw extrusion. Then, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis has been used to investigate the influence of ILs on the different morphologies of these nanocomposites. Even though the thermal stability of PLA matrix decreased, an excellent stiffness-toughness compromise has been obtained.     

Prediction of the selectivity in the recovery of transesterification reaction products using supported liquid membranes based on ionic liquids

Previously, we reported the selective simultaneous separation of the substrates and products of a transesterification reaction (vinyl butyrate, 1-butanol, butyl butyrate and butyric acid) through supported liquid membranes (SLMs) based on ionic liquids (ILs) and concluded that transport of the compounds was mainly regulated by the affinity of the ionic liquid towards each solute.