Ionic Liquid - Room Temperature Varieties

Room Temperature Varieties

Room temperature ionic liquids consist of bulky and asymmetric organic cations such as 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium, 1-alkylpyridinium, N-methyl-N-alkylpyrrolidinium and ammonium ions. Phosphonium cations are less common, but offer some advantageous properties. A wide range of anions are employed, ranging from simple halides, which generally suffer high melting points, to inorganic anions such as tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate, and to large organic anions like bistriflimide, triflate or tosylate. There are also many interesting uses of ionic liquids with simple non-halogenated organic anions such as formate, alkylsulfate, alkylphosphate or glycolate. The melting point of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate with an imidazole skeleton is about −80 °C (−112 °F) and it is a colorless liquid with high viscosity at room temperature.

In many synthetic processes using transition metal catalysts, metal nanoparticles play an important role as the actual catalyst or as a catalyst reservoir. ILs are an appealing medium for the formation and stabilization of catalytically active transition metal nanoparticles. More importantly, ILs can be made that incorporate coordinating groups, for example, with nitrile groups on either the cation or anion (CN-IL). In various C-C coupling reactions catalyzed by a palladium catalyst, it has been found that palladium nanoparticles are better stabilized in CN-IL compared to non-functionalized ionic liquids; thus enhanced catalytic activity and recyclability are realized.