Ionic liquid as solvent and co-catalyst

Ionic liquids formed by treatment of a halide salt with a Lewis acid (such as chloro-aluminate or chlorostannate melts) generally act both as solvent and as co-catalyst in transition metal catalysis. The reason for this is that the Lewis acidity or basicity, which is always present (at least latently), results in strong interactions with the catalyst complex. In many cases, the Lewis acidity of an ionic liquid is used to convert the neutral catalyst precursor into the corresponding cationic active form. The activation of Cp2TiCl2 [26] and (ligand)2NiCl2 [27] in acidic chloroaluminate melts and the activation of (PR3)2PtCl2 in chlorostannate melts [28] are examples of this land of activation (Eqs. 5.2-1, 5.2-2, and 5.2-3). 

Cp2TiCl2 -H [cation][AI2CI7] [Cp2TiCl][AlCl4] -r [cation][AICI4] (5.2-1) 

In cases in which the ionic liquid is not directly involved in creating the active catalytic species, a co-catalytic interaction between the ionic liquid solvent and the dissolved transition metal complex still often takes place and can result in significant catalyst activation. When a catalyst complex is, for example, dissolved in a slightly acidic ionic liquid, some electron-rich parts of the complex (e.g., lone pairs of electrons in the ligand) will interact with the solvent in a way that will usually result in a lower electron density at the catalytic center (for more details see Section 5.2.3). 

This type of co-catalytic influence is well loiown in heterogeneous catalysis, in which for some reactions an acidic support will activate a metal catalyst more efficiently than a neutral support. In this respect, the acidic ionic liquid can be considered as a liquid acidic support for the transition metal catalysts dissolved in it. 

As one would expect, in those cases in which the ionic liquid acts as a co-catalyst, the nature of the ionic liquid becomes very important for the reactivity of the transition metal complex. The opportunity to optimize the ionic medium used, by variation of the halide salt, the Lewis acid, and the ratio of the two components forming the ionic liquid, opens up enormous potential for optimization. However, the choice of these parameters may be restricted by some possible incompatibilities with the feedstock used. Undesired side reactions caused by the Lewis acidity of the ionic liquid or by strong interaction between the Lewis acidic ionic liquid and, for example, some oxygen functionalities in the substrate have to be considered. 

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Ionic liquids formed by the reaction of a halide salt with a Lewis acid (e.g. chloroa-luminate or chlorostannate melts) generally act as both solvent and co-catalyst in... 

Despite all the advantages of this process, one main limitation is the continuous catalyst carry-over by the products, with the need to deactivate it and dispose of wastes. One way to optimize catalyst consumption and waste disposal is to operate the reaction in a biphasic system. The first difliculty was to choose a good solvent. N,N-Dialkylimidazolium chloroaluminate ionic liquids proved to be the best candidates. They are liquid at the reaction temperature, butenes are reasonably soluble in them (Table 5.4-3), and they are poorly miscible with the products (Table 5.4-2, case (a)). The chloroaluminate eSiciently dissolves and stabilizes the nickel catalyst in the ionic medium without the addition of special ligand. The ionic liquid plays the role of both catalyst solvent and co-catalyst. Its Lewis acidity can be adjusted to get the best performance. The catalytically active nickel complex is generated directly in the ionic liquid by reaction of a commercialized tiickel(II) salt, as used in the Dimersol process, with an alkylaluminum chloride derivative. 

Singer and co-workers have investigated the acylation reactions of ferrocene in ionic liquids made from mixtures of [EMIMJI and aluminium(III) chloride (Scheme 6.1-5) [9, 10]. The ionic liquid acts both as solvent and as source of the Friedel-Crafts catalyst. In mildly acidic (X(A1C13) > 0.5 [EMIM]I/A1C13, the monoacetylated ferrocene was obtained as the major product. In strongly acidic [EMIM]I/AlCl3 X(A1C13) = 0.67 the diacylated ferrocene was the major product. Also, when R = alkyl, the diacetylated product was usually the major product, but for R = Ph, the monoacetylated product was favored. 

Recently several pubhcations have examined replacing aqueous solvents with ionic liquids. Since simple and complex sugars are soluble in many imidazolium hahdes, water is not required as a co-solvent and degradation of HMF is minimal. Lansalot-Matras et al. reported on the dehydration of fmctose in imidazolium ionic liquids using acid catalyst (6). Moreau et al. reported that l-H-3-methylimidazolium chloride has sufficient acidity to operate without added acid (7). And we reported that a 0.5 wt% loading (6 mole% compared to substrate) of many metal halides in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazohum chloride ([EMIM]C1) result in catalytically active materials particularly useful for dehydration reactions (8). 

Seddon and co-workers described the Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of benzene with ace-tylchloride using acidic chloroferrate ionic liquids as catalysts [38], In contrast to the same reaction in presence of acidic chloroaluminate systems the ketone product could be separated from the ionic liquid by solvent extraction, provided that the molar ratio of FeCl3 is in the range 0.51-0.55 in the applied ionic liquid catalyst (Scheme 1). 

Ionic liquids represent a new class of polar reaction media for homogeneous catalysis, especially for biphasic applications. By variation of the ionic liquid as well as the addition of co-solvents, the properties can be conveniently fine-tuned. With the advantages of phase separation and nonvolatility, ionic liquids can help to reduce solvent and catalyst consumption. 

The palladium-catalyzed cyclocarbonylation reaction of o-iodoanilines with allenes and CO in l-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [bmimJPFg afforded 3-methylene-2,3-dihydro-lH-quinolin-4-ones in yields of up to 90% under a low pressure (5 atm) of CO (Scheme 17.2). The ionic liquid, as the solvent and promoter, enhanced the efficiency of the cyclocarbonylation reaction. In this work. Ye and group demonstrated the recyclability of the system of ionic liquids and their use as catalysts [44]. 

In 2004, Pan, She and co-workers studied this transformation further and found that the reaction conditions can be milder by using ionic liquid as the solvent. By using a catal3dic amount of PdClz as the catalyst, NBug as the base, in ionic liquid ([BMIm]BF4), the desired products were formed in good yields at 60 °C for 24 hours (Scheme 2.70). Remarkably, the ionic liquid... 

Chloro-aluminate ionic liquids promote the carbonylation of alkylated aromatic compounds, but fails in the case of oxygenated aromatics. Aldehyde yields of formylation in the acidified neutral ionic liquids were generally similar compared to reactions conducted in HF as solvent/catalyst (cf Table 2.2). The increase in aldehyde yields with the use of extended alkyl chain lengths of the cationic part of the melt, may be due to improved CO solubility. HF/BFs-acidified neutral ionic liquids showed both increases in para-selectivity compared to HF as solvent and catalyst. Formylation of anisole and toluene, but not of phenol in the neutral ionic liquids resulted in increased secondary product formation in comparison with hydrogen fluoride used as solvent/catalyst. This difference in behaviour is not understood at present, but suggests that phenol is a good substrate for formylation in this medium, particularly with the development of a system catalytic with respect to HF/BF3 in mind. 

Jiang, T Ma, X. Zhou, Y Liang, S. Zhang, J. Han, B. Solvent-free Synthesis of Substituted Ureas from CO and Amines with a Functional Ionic Liquid as the Catalyst. Green Chem., 2008,10,465 69. 

Depending on the coordinative properties of the anion and on the degree of the cation s reactivity, the ionic liquid can be regarded as an innocent solvent, as a ligand (or ligand precursor), as a co-catalyst, or as the catalyst itself... 

Acidic chloroaluminate ionic liquids have already been described as both solvents and catalysts for reactions conventionally catalyzed by AICI3, such as catalytic Friedel-Crafts alkylation [35] or stoichiometric Friedel-Crafts acylation [36], in Section 5.1. In a very similar manner, Lewis-acidic transition metal complexes can form complex anions by reaction with organic halide salts. Seddon and co-workers, for example, patented a Friedel-Crafts acylation process based on an acidic chloro-ferrate ionic liquid catalyst [37]. 

Is there a "universal ionic liquid at the present state of development The answer is clearly no. Many of the ionic liquids commonly in use have very different physical and chemical properties (see Chapter 3) and it is absolutely impossible that one type of ionic liquid could be used for all synthetic applications described in Chapters 5-8. In view of the different possible roles of the ionic liquid in a given synthetic application (e.g., as catalyst, co-catalyst, or innocent solvent) this point is quite obvious. However, some properties, such as nonvolatility, are universal for all ionic liquids. So the answer becomes, if the property that you want is common to all ionic liquids, then any one will do. If not, you will require the ionic liquid that meets your needs. 

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