Ionic liquids Bronsted acid catalysis

Some ionic liquids have tunable Lewis acidities and basicities. The tuning can be achieved simply by varying the anion fraction in the overall ionic liquid composition. In some cases, Bronsted acidity can also be introduced into stable ionic liquids. Many publications show the broad applicability of acidic or basic ionic liquid media in catalysis replacing corrosive liquids and solid catalysts. 

An area of broad interest in catalysis is the search for viable replacements for the widely used Bronsted liquid acids such as HF and H2SO4 and solid Lewis acids such as AICI3 and MgCl2. The liquid acids are corrosive and also costly, because of the need to work up the products by neutralization and repeated washing. In many cases, the contamination of the products by these acids induces degradation over time and limits the application of the products. The cost of multi-step washing can be quite high. Acidic ionic liquids therefore offer potential alternatives for such reactions (//). 

Several authors reported the use of ionic liquids containing protonic acid in catalysis (118-120). For example, strong Bronsted acidity in ionic liquids has been reported to successfully catalyze tetrahydropyranylation of alcohols (120). Tetra-hydropyranylation is one of the most widely used processes for the protection of alcohols and phenols in multi-step syntheses. Although the control experiments with the ionic liquids showed negligible activity in the absence of the added acids, high yields of product were obtained with the ionic liquid catalysts TPPTS or TPP.HBr-[BMIM]PF6. By rapid extraction of the product from the acidic ionic liquid phase by diethyl ether, the reaction medium was successfully reused for 22 cycles without an appreciable activity loss. A gradual loss of the catalyst and a reduced volume of the ionic liquid were noted, however, as a consequence of transfer to the extraction solvent. 

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