What is it about?

A general method to synthesize halide and halide-free ionic liquids was developed. Direct alkylation of imidazole and pyridine derivatives was performed in the presence of an acid using an orthoester as the alkyl donor yielding ionic liquid products. Residual Cl and water contents of the ionic liquids were determined by ion chromatography and a Karl-Fisher test.

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Why is it important?

We developed a general method to synthesize halide and halide-free ionic liquids. Direct alkylation of imidazole and pyridine derivatives was performed using Brønsted acids or ammonium salts in the presence of an orthoester to give high yields of the corresponding ionic liquids with low levels of residual chloride. Our [BMIM][BF4] had a 35 times lower Cl content than commercial [BMIM][BF4] based on ion chromatography. Further investigation for the application of the ILs synthesized by this method is ongoing.

Perspectives

Our synthetic method can make ultra-pure ionic liquids and can be used as battery electrolytes in the future.

Professor Jin Kyoon Park
Pusan National University

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This page is a summary of: A general and direct synthesis of imidazolium ionic liquids using orthoesters, Green Chemistry, July 2014, Royal Society of Chemistry,
DOI: 10.1039/c4gc00684d.
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