Analysis of water in room temperature ionic liquids by linear sweep, differential pulse and square wave cathodic stripping voltammetries

Insights on the catalytic behaviour of sulfonic acid-functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) in transesterification reactions - voltammetric characterization of sulfonic task-specific ILs with bisulfate anions

This work shows for the first time the link between the amount of free sulfuric acid (as detected by cyclic voltammetry) and the activity of sulfonic-acid-functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) as acid catalysts for a transesterification reaction, and demonstrates that sulfonic acid groups, while are not directly involved in the catalysis, release the free acid during the reaction. Two imidazolic ILs with bisulfate as the counterion and their corresponding task-specific ILs (TSILs) that resulted from the addition of a sulfonic acid group inside the imidazolic-base structure were studied. The outstanding catalytic activity at room temperature of the TSILs 1-(4-sulfonic acid)-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bisulfate ([bsmim]HSO4) and 1-(4-sulfonic acid)-butyl-imidazolium bisulfate ([bsHim]HSO4) for the transesterification of p-nitrophenyl acetate with methanol was associated to the significant amounts of free sulfuric acid in equilibria with the ionic pairs. It was concluded that these TSILs function as reservoirs for releasing the free acid, which is the actual acid catalyst. In contrast, the corresponding non-sulfonic ILs supply very little amounts of free acid and consequently present low catalytic activities at room temperature, which in fact can be improved by increasing the reaction temperature up to 100 °C.

Understanding the Role of Protic Ionic Liquids (PILs) in Reactive Systems: Rational Selection of PILs for the Design of Green Synthesis Strategies for Allylic Amines and β-Amino Esters

The reactive behaviour of protic ionic liquids (PILs) has been shown to be governed not only by their chemical structures but also by their global compositions, which include the presence of free acids and bases at equilibrium with ionic pairs. Six PILs composed of primary, secondary, or tertiary alkyl ammonium cations with two couterions, nitrate or acetate, were tested in model reactions with unsaturated substrates. The free species that were naturally present in these liquids were identified by cyclic voltammetry. Only tributylammonium nitrate was found to be mostly composed just of the ionic pair; the other five PILs also contain variable amounts of free acid and amine. In reactive systems, these free species determine the products of the reaction. In particular, allylic amines and β-amino esters were obtained in good yields (91 and 75 %, respectively) by reaction of conjugated dienes and acrylates in the presence of PILs. By taking into account the actual composition of each PIL, it was possible to direct the reaction path towards a specific product with good yields, to ensure acid catalysis, to avoid polymerization of the substrate, and to promote phase transfer of products. These results establish some useful guidelines for the rational design of new PIL-based one-step synthetic strategies.