A new nitrite ionic liquid (IL-ONO) as a nitrosonium source for the efficient diazotization of aniline derivatives and in-situ synthesis of azo dyes

A new task-specific nitrite containing ionic liquid derived from the O-nitrosation of N-methyl-N-hydroxybutylimidazolinium chloride was synthesized and used as a source of nitrosonium ion to affect the efficient diazotization of arylamines. The diazonium salts thus obtained were coupled, using standard experimental procedures, to a range of tertiary anilines, phenols and naphthols to afford the requisite azo dyes in good yield. The diazotization and subsequent azo-coupling generated the related azo dyes at 0–5 °C in short reaction times with a simple experimental procedure.