Scientists from Italy have developed a new series of ionic liquids from renewable starting materials.
The team of scientists led by Cinzia Chiappe and Fabio Bellina synthesized a series of trialkyl(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)phosphonium salts prepared from 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol or (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methanol – two compounds that can be obtained easily from glycerol. Phosphonium salts are emerging as promising alternatives to imidazolium analogues, as they are inert in basic reaction media and possess superior stability. Chiappe and Bellina have developed an efficient route to these compounds from cheap and commercially available starting materials.
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Synthesis and properties of trialkyl(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)phosphonium salts, a new class of hydrophilic and hydrophobic glyceryl-functionalized Ils, Fabio Bellina, Cinzia Chiappe and Marco Lessi, Green Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1GC16035D
