In ionic liquids

To date a number of reactions have been carried out in ionic liquids [for examples, see Dell Anna et al. J Chem Soc, Chem Commun 434 2002 Nara, Harjani and Salunkhe Tetrahedron Lett 43 1127 2002 Semeril et al. J Chem Soc Chem Commun 146 2002 Buijsman, van Vuuren and Sterrenburg Org Lett 3 3785 2007]. These include Diels-Alder reactions, transition-metal mediated catalysis, e.g. Heck and Suzuki coupling reactions, and olefin metathesis reactions. An example of ionic liquid acceleration of reactions carried out on solid phase is given by Revell and Ganesan [Org Lett 4 3071 2002]. 

R. Sheldon, Catalytic reactions in ionic liquids, J Chem Soc, Chem Commun 2399-2407 2001. 

From our point of view, this is exactly what commercial ionic liquid production is about. Commercial producers try to make ionic liquids in the highest quality that can be achieved at reasonable cost. For some ionic liquids they can guarantee a purity greater than 99 %, for others perhaps only 95 %. If, however, customers are offered products with stated natures and amounts of impurities, they can then decide what kind of purity grade they need, given that they do have the opportunity to purify the commercial material further themselves. Since trace analysis of impurities in ionic liquids is still a field of ongoing fundamental research, we think that anybody who really needs (or believes that they need) a purity of greater than 99.99 % should synthesize or purify the ionic liquid themselves. Moreover, they may still need to develop the methods to specify this purity. 

In this context it is important to note that the detection of this land of alkali cation impurity in ionic liquids is not easy with traditional methods for reaction monitoring in ionic liquid synthesis (such as conventional NMR spectroscopy). More specialized procedures are required to quantify the amount of alkali ions in the ionic liquid or the quantitative ratio of organic cation to anion. Quantitative ion chromatography is probably the most powerful tool for this kind of quality analysis. 

Without special drying procedures and completely inert handling, water is omnipresent in ionic liquids. Even the apparently hydrophobic ionic liquid [BMIM][(CF3S02)2N] saturates with about 1.4 mass% of water [15], a significant molar amount. For more hydrophilic ionic liquids, water uptake from air can be much greater. Imidazolium halide salts in particular are laiown to be extremely hygroscopic, one of the reasons why it is so difficult to make completely proton-free chloroaluminate ionic liquids. 

Research in ionic liquid methodology is still young and there is still a lot to explore. Prevention of fundamental research on some new families of ionic liquids by exploitation of an IP position would simply kill off a lot of future possibilities. 

The dominant force in ionic liquids is Coulombic attraction between ions. The Coulombic attraction term is given by Equation (3.1-2) ... 

The solubility of water vapor in ionic liquids is of interest because ionic liquids are extremely hygroscopic. In addition, the solubility of water vapor in ILs is an excellent test of the strength of molecular interactions in these fluids. By using the gravi-... 

The solubility of various gases in ionic liquids is extremely important in evaluating ILs as solvents for reactions, separations, and materials processing. There are a number of viable techniques for measuring gas solubilities in ILs, including the... 

To date, most studies of ionic liquids have used a small set of ionic liquids and have been based on the idea that, if the response of a particular probe molecule or reaction is like that in some known molecular solvent, then it can be said that the polarities of the ionic liquid and the molecular solvent are the same. This may not necessarily be the case. Only systematic investigations will show whether this is tme, and only when a wide range of ionic liquids with a wide range of different solvent polarity probes have been studied will we be able to make any truly general statements about the polarity of ionic liquids. Indeed, in our attempts to understand the nature of solvent effects in ionic liquids, we will probably have to refine our notion of polarity itself However, it is possible to draw some tentative general conclusions. 

The diffusion coefficients of the constituent ions in ionic liquids have most commonly been measured either by electrochemical or by NMR methods. These two methods in fact measure slightly different diffusional properties. The electrochemical methods measure the diffusion coefficient of an ion in the presence of a concentration gradient (Pick diffusion) [59], while the NMR methods measure the diffusion coefficient of an ion in the absence of any concentration gradients (self-diffusion) [60]. Fortunately, under most circumstances these two types of diffusion coefficients are roughly equivalent. 

Transport numbers are intended to measure the fraction of the total ionic current carried by an ion in an electrolyte as it migrates under the influence of an applied electric field. In essence, transport numbers are an indication of the relative ability of an ion to carry charge. The classical way to measure transport numbers is to pass a current between two electrodes contained in separate compartments of a two-compartment cell These two compartments are separated by a barrier that only allows the passage of ions. After a known amount of charge has passed, the composition and/or mass of the electrolytes in the two compartments are analyzed. Erom these data the fraction of the charge transported by the cation and the anion can be calculated. Transport numbers obtained by this method are measured with respect to an external reference point (i.e., the separator), and, therefore, are often referred to as external transport numbers. Two variations of the above method, the Moving Boundary method [66] and the Eiittorff method [66-69], have been used to measure cation (tR+) and anion (tx ) transport numbers in ionic liquids, and these data are listed in Table 3.6-7. 

Species dissolved in ionic liquids A number of systems have been investigated in both chloroaluminate and second generation ionic liquids... 

Since this is just the beginning of investigations into the diffusion behavior and intermolecular forces in ionic liquid systems, further experimental work needs to be done both with pure ionic liquids and with systems of mixtures of ionic and organic liquids. 

The highly detailed results obtained for the neat ionic liquid [BMIM][PFg] clearly demonstrate the potential of this method for determination of molecular reorienta-tional dynamics in ionic liquids. Further studies should combine the results for the reorientational dynamics with viscosity data in order to compare experimental correlation times with correlation times calculated from hydrodynamic models (cf [14]). It should thus be possible to draw conclusions about the intermolecular structure and interactions in ionic liquids and about the molecular basis of specific properties of ionic liquids. 

Stoichiometric Organic Reactions and Acid-Catalyzed Reactions in Ionic Liquids... 

The field of reaction chemistry in ionic liquids was initially confined to the use of chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids. With the development of neutral ionic liquids in the mid-1990s, the range of reactions that can be performed has expanded rapidly. In this chapter, reactions in both chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids and in similar Lewis acidic media are described. In addition, stoichiometric reactions, mostly in neutral ionic liquids, are discussed. Review articles by several authors are available, including Welton [1] (reaction chemistry in ionic liquids), Holbrey [2] (properties and phase behavior), Earle [3] (reaction chemistry in ionic liquids), Pagni [4] (reaction chemistry in molten salts), Rooney [5] (physical properties of ionic liquids), Seddon [6, 7] (chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids and industrial applications), Wasserscheid [8] (catalysis in ionic liquids), Dupont [9] (catalysis in ionic liquids) and Sheldon [10] (catalysis in ionic liquids). 

To many chemists it may seem daunting to perform reactions in ionic liquids, and the range of ionic liquids or potential ionic liquids available is very large. However, many scientists have found that performing reactions in ionic liquids is straightforward and practical when compared with similar reactions in conventional organic solvents. This is particularly the case when considering reactions nor-... 

Stoichiometric - or, more simply, non-catalytic - reactions are an important and rapidly expanding area of research in ionic liquids. This section deals with reactions that consume the ionic liquid (or molten salt) or use the ionic liquid as a solvent. 

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