Unexpected side reactions of imidazolium-based ionic liquids in the base-catalysed Baylis–Hillman reactionElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: NMR data; details of conditions employed by Afonso and integrations and calculations. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b2/b203079a/

Abstract

Low yields are obtained when the Baylis-Hillman reaction is conducted in the presence of an imidazolium-based ionic liquid due to direct addition of the deprotonated imidazolium salt to the aldehyde. Ionic liquids are evidently not inert.