Paradigm Confirmed: The First Use of Ionic Liquids to Dramatically Influence the Outcome of Chemical Reactions

Abstract

It has been an unproven paradigm that the choice of which ionic liquid to use in a chemical reaction can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of that chemical reaction. We demonstrate, for the first time, that the reaction of toluene and nitric acid in three different ionic liquids gives rise to three completely different products in high yield. Furthermore, ionic liquids can catalyze these reactions with the only byproduct being water. [reaction: see text]