Special Issue "Ionic Liquids in Catalysis"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Liebscher
Institut für Chemie, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Website: http://www.chemie.hu-berlin.de/liebscher/
E-Mail: liebscher@chemie.hu-berlin.de
Interests: ionic liquids as solvents in catalysis; ionic liquids and recycling of catalysts; ionic liquid as supports for catalysts ; ionic liquids on catalytic nanoparticles; ionic liquids in organocatalysis; ionic liquids in transition metal catalysis; task specific ionic liquids with catalytic activity

Dear Colleagues,

Ionic liquids have gained extremely wide interest in organic synthesis over the last 12 years. Their properties can be tuned according to the needs of the reaction by changing cations or anions or both. Ionic liquids entered also the field of catalysis. Here, they can give rise to a number of advantages over conventional solvents such as higher catalytic activity, better solubility of the catalyst, homogeneity of the reaction mixture, wider temperature range, easy separation of products, effective absorption of microwaves for activation, recycling of catalysts and solvents. Recycling and re-usage of the catalytic system, i. e., catalyst and ionic liquid is in particular attractive for economic and environmental reasons in especially if it comes to large scale applications. Although ionic liquids were initially used mainly in transition metal complex catalysis they have found many fold applications in organocatalysis and enzymology afterwards. In addition to traditional methods also microreactors have been applied with success in this area.

In this special issue we aim at recent progress in the application of ionic liquids in catalysis of organic reactions and the development of new catalytic systems based on ionic liquids.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Liebscher
Guest Editor

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• ionic liquids as solvents in catalysis
• ionic liquids and recycling of catalysts
• ionic liquid as supports for catalysts
• ionic liquids on catalytic nanoparticles
• ionic liquids in organocatalysis
• ionic liquids in transition metal catalysis
• task specific ionic liquids with catalytic activity

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Towards Rational Design of Nanoparticle Catalysis in Ionic Liquids
Authors: Bin Zhang and Ning Yan
Affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, 119260 Singapore
Abstract: This feature article introduces our strategies on the design of highly efficient nanoparticle (NP) catalytic systems in ionic liquids (ILs). We have demonstrated that the employment of functional ILs as the medium for the NP preparation and catalysis could prove advantageous in terms of enhancing both NP stability and catalytic activity. Hydroxyl group functionalized ILs, in particular, exhibited a remarkable promotion effect on a variety of reactions catalyzed by NPs, such as hydrogenation over Rh NPs, hydrodehalogenation over Pt NPs, and Suzuki reaction over Pd NPs. In some cases, additional stabilizer is required to keep the NPs sufficiently stable in catalysis, and we synthesized a few NP stabilizers that are tailor-made for applications in ILs. For example, a carboxylic group modified polyvinylpyrrolidone endows NPs three-fold stabilization including steric, electrostatic and ligand stabilizations, which leads to excellent stability of the NPs.The catalytic activities of these NPs, on the other hand, are not compromised as each of these stabilization mechanisms is not too strong.Following that we will describe our recent work on the rational design of bimetallic NPs in ILs. A case study on the AuPd NPs for dehalogenation reaction will be discussed. Finally we will present our effort on the development of multifunctional systems involving NPs for a tandem reaction sequence that convert lignin-derived phenolic compounds into fuels.