Reactivity of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids are becoming widely used in synthetic organic chemistry and yet relatively little attention has been paid to the intrinsic reactivity of these low temperature molten salts. Clues to the non-innocent nature of many ionic liquids are contained in the reports of altered reactivity of dissolved substrates, unexpected catalytic activity and unforeseen by-product formation. In this review, we focus on the reactivity of ionic liquids, as opposed to reactivity in ionic liquids (although discussion of the latter is often included where it aids understanding of the former).

Ionic liquids are becoming widely used in synthetic organic chemistry and yet relatively little attention has been paid to the intrinsic reactivity of these low temperature molten salts. An increased number of reports allude to the non-innocent nature of many ionic liquids. Knowledge of unexpected catalytic activity of ionic liquids and unforeseen by-product formation are important considerations for synthetic chemists using ionic liquids. In addition, an increasing number of ionic liquids viz. task-specific ionic liquids are being designed to be reactive for carrying out a specific transformation. In this review, we focus on the reactivity of ionic liquids, as opposed to reactivity in ionic liquids (although discussion of the latter is often included where it aids understanding of the former).