Abstract

Due to their unique properties, ionic liquids (ILs) have become increasingly popular over the last few years in the field of green organic synthesis. This review provides an introduction to ionic liquids and aims specifically to describe diverse, recent applications of ILs in three main areas of organic synthesis: single-step chemical reactions in ILs, multistep reactions involving IL-phase synthesis, and multistep reactions in which ILs were used as reaction media for organic syntheses. The significance of greener ILs, including their easy work-up by straightforward extraction, high-yield isolation and purification, remarkable reaction selectivity, and efficient reusability, will also be discussed.

Keywords: Ionic liquid, ionic liquid-phase, ionic liquid support, carrier ionic liquid, green organic synthesis, multistep synthesis, “designer solvents”, nanotechnological, organometallic reactions, metal-mediated catalysis, solid-phase organic synthesis (SPOS), polyethylene glycol supports