Are ionic liquids a proper solution to current environmental challenges?

Exploiting 1,2,3-Triazolium Ionic Liquids for Synthesis of Tryptanthrin and Chemoselective Extraction of Copper(II) Ions and Histidine-Containing Peptides

“…It is of note that this optimized synthesis of ionic liquids 1 and 2, in our hands required no chromatographic separation. We were interested in incorporating low-melting, hydrophobic [NTf2] anion in 1, 2 primarily because of its water immiscibility, very low water content and low viscosity [4,5]. In addition, ionic liquids are known to be excellent microwave absorbers and thus should be useful for microwaveassisted organic synthesis.…”

“…Their ionic nature confers desirable properties to these liquids. They often possess wide liquid state ranges, high conductivity, excellent solubilization of many small molecules, good thermal stability, and negligible volatility [4,5]. The "green" character of ionic liquids largely refers to their very low vapor pressure, if any, and consequent inability to cause air pollution.…”

“…Ionic liquids are a class of polar solvents entirely made of ions, and many of them are liquids at room temperature [4,5]. Their ionic nature confers desirable properties to these liquids.…”

Definition of green synthetic tools based on safer reaction media, heterogeneous catalysis, and flow technology

“…Several promising directions have been undertaken by the green chemistry community and excellent results have been achieved using non-conventional solvents as water [10][11][12][13][14][15], supercritical CO 2 [16][17][18][19], ionic liquids [20][21][22] as well as biomass-derived solvents that feature the obvious advantage of deriving from renewable resources [23][24][25]. In the latter case, additional considerations should be made by evaluating the synthetic route used for their preparation but can be certainly considered as "greener" and promising alternatives to fossil based solvents.…”

Direct Transformation of Fructose and Glucose to 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in Ionic Liquids under Mild Conditions

“…Ionic liquids have been widely used as novel reaction media for various catalytic reactions (Liu et al 2012;Cevasco and Chiappe 2014;Liu et al 2015a). Furthermore, ILs can serve as good solvents for various carbohydrates and are considered more environmentally friendly than traditional organic solvents (Wang et al 2011).…”