Finkelstein Reaction in Non-polar Organic Solvents: A Streamlined Synthesis of Organic Iodides

Microwave Encounters Ionic Liquid: Synergistic Mechanism, Synthesis and Emerging Applications

Progress in microwave (MW) energy application technology has stimulated remarkable advances in manufacturing and high-quality applications of ionic liquids (ILs) that are generally used as novel media in chemical engineering. This Review focuses on an emerging technology via the combination of MW energy and the usage of ILs, termed microwave-assisted ionic liquid (MAIL) technology. In comparison to conventional routes that rely on heat transfer through media, the contactless and unique MW heating exploits the electromagnetic wave-ions interactions to deliver energy to IL molecules, accelerating the process of material synthesis, catalytic reactions, and so on. In addition to the inherent advantages of ILs, including outstanding solubility, and well-tuned thermophysical properties, MAIL technology has exhibited great potential in process intensification to meet the requirement of efficient, economic chemical production. Here we start with an introduction to principles of MW heating, highlighting fundamental mechanisms of MW induced process intensification based on ILs. Next, the synergies of MW energy and ILs employed in materials synthesis, as well as their merits, are documented. The emerging applications of MAIL technologies are summarized in the next sections, involving tumor therapy, organic catalysis, separations, and bioconversions. Finally, the current challenges and future opportunities of this emerging technology are discussed.

Fluorine-Assisted Rearrangement of Geminal Azidofluorides to Imidoyl Fluorides

Organoazide rearrangement constitutes versatile synthetic strategies but typically requires an extremely strong acid and/or a high reaction temperature. Our group recently discovered the remarkable accelerating effect of the geminal fluorine substituent that enables the facile rearrangement of azides into imidoyl fluorides without the aid of acid under much milder reaction conditions. The role of geminal fluorine was elucidated by both experimental and computational investigations. This new reactivity led to the development of a practical one-step tandem preparative method for potentially useful and bench-stable imidoyl fluorides from a wide range of structurally diverse geminal chlorofluorides. Our additional efforts to expand the reaction scope regarding the migrating group, halogen, and carbonyl function are described, and the synthetic utility of the imidoyl fluoride products was demonstrated in hopes of promoting the use of this under-appreciated functional group in the synthetic organic community.

Accelerated thermal reaction kinetics by indirect microwave heating of a microwave-transparent substrate

Macroscopically homogeneous mixtures of p-nitroanisole (pNA) and mesitylene (MES) can be selectively heated using microwave (MW) energy. The pNA solutes agglomerate into distinct phase domains on the attoliter-scale (1 aL = 10^-18 L), and these agglomerates can be MW-heated selectively to temperatures that far exceed the boiling point of the surrounding MES solvent. Here, a 1 : 20 mixture of pNA : MES is used as a mixed solvent for aryl Claisen rearrangement of allyl naphthyl ether (ANE). ANE itself does not heat effectively in the MW, but selective MW heating of pNA allows for transfer of thermal energy to ANE to accelerate rearrangement kinetics above what would be expected based on Arrhenius kinetics and the measured bulk solution temperature. This focused study builds on prior work and highlights 1 : 20 pNA : MES as a mixed solvent system to consider for strategically exploiting MW-specific thermal effects.