Ionic Liquids as a Novel Medium for Photochemical Reactions. Ru(bpy)32+/ Viologen in Imidazolium Ionic Liquid as a Photocatalytic System Mimicking the Oxido-Reductase Enzyme†

Green chemical engineering in China

In China, the rapid development greatly promotes the national economic power and living standard but also inevitably brings a series of environmental problems. In order to resolve these problems fundamentally, Chinese scientists have been undertaking research in the area of green chemical engineering (GCE) for many years and achieved great progresses. In this paper, we reviewed the research progresses related to GCE in China and screened four typical topics related to the Chinese resources characteristics and environmental requirements, i.e. ionic liquids and their applications, biomass utilization and bio-based materials/products, green solvent-mediated extraction technologies, and cold plasmas for coal conversion. Afterwards, the perspectives and development tendencies of GCE were proposed, and the challenges which will be faced while developing available industrial technologies in China were mentioned.

Interaction of DNA and a series of aromatic donor-viologen acceptor molecules with and without the presence of CB[8]

A series of 1-ethyl-1'-arylmethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium compounds is synthesized, where the aryl is phenyl (BEV), 2-naphthyl (NEV), 2-anthracenyl (AEV) or 1-pyrenyl (PEV). Among them, PEV and AEV can bind with calf thymus DNA mainly through intercalation and groove-binding modes, and both of them can be observed to photocleave plasmid pBR 322 DNA significantly under irradiation with a xenon arc lamp. After inclusion of cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]), all of the aromatic donor-viologen acceptor compounds exhibit efficient DNA photocleavage ability. The reason is that CB[8] can inhibit the intramolecular backwards electron transfer in the aromatic donor-viologen acceptor molecule, prolonging the lifetime of the charge separated excited state to some extent. These studies bring a new subject in DNA photocleavage research and a potential application of the host-guest supramolecular system.

Phase behavior and microstructure of microemulsions containing the hydrophobic ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate

The phase behavior and microstructure of the ternary system water/1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (bmimPF(6))/Triton X-100 was studied as a function of temperature and ionic liquid (IL) mass fraction alpha. In the present study, a hydrophobic IL instead of commonly used organic solvents such as n-alkanes is used. The fish-shaped region is distorted at low and high values of alpha, whereas it is symmetric at intermediate alpha. With increasing alpha, the extension of the three-phase region decreases regarding the surfactant concentration range, whereas it increases regarding the temperature range. For comparison the phase behavior of two ternary water/bmimPF(6)/alkyl oligoethyleneoxide (C(i)E(j)) systems has been investigated. Our results are compared with those obtained for water/n-alkane/C(i)E(j) and IL/n-alkane/C(i)E(j) systems, respectively.

Photochemistry of a Chiral Salen Aluminum Complex in Nonconventional Solvents: Use of Imidazolium Ionic Liquids and Chiral Alcohols

The photochemistry of a chiral (salen)aluminum(III) chloride complex has been studied in nonconventional solvents, namely, two imidazolium ionic liquids differing on the hydrophobicity (hydrophilic BF(4)(-) or hydrophobic PF(6)(-) counter anions) and in chiral 2-butanols (R and S). Upon 355 nm laser excitation, the same transient absorption spectrum (with some solvatochromic shift in lambda(max)) was recorded in all cases and assigned to the (salen)Al(II) complex with radicaloid character at the metal atom. This intermediate arises from the photoinduced homolytic cleavage of the apical Al-Cl bond. The half-life of this radicaloid Al(II) species varies depending on the solvent, indicating that its reactivity is governed by the nature of the ionic liquid and also on the R or S configuration of the chiral alcohol.

Photochemical Schiemann Reaction in Ionic Liquids

Photochemical Schiemann reactions of imidazole derivatives 1 and 4 were carried out in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid [bmim][BF(4)] as solvent. The effects of temperature, co-solvent and wavelength on the rate of the reaction and product yield were examined. The use of ionic liquid increases the yield of the photochemical fluorodediazoniation reaction of 2 at 0°C. Careful temperature control is necessary to minimize the photodecomposition of the ionic liquid in order to increase the yield of product.