Studies in Organic Reactions in alternative reaction media

Abstract

The use of organic solvents and their emissions has been at the centre of major newlineenvironmental concern in recent years, and there is currently a great deal of interest in newlinefinding alternatives to halogenated and volatile organic solvents for synthesis. newlineSolvents replacement technologies should be introduced to increase reaction newlineefficiency, improve separation and catalyst recovery, and reduce emissions to the newlineenvironment. Ionic liquids play an important role in replacing conventional solvents: They are good solvents for a wide range of both inorganic and organic materials, newlineand unusual combination of reagents can be brought into the same phase. newline They are often composed of poorly coordinating ions, so they have the potential to newlinebe highly polar yet coordinating solvents. newline They generally have reasonably high thermal stability. In others words, many newlineionic liquids have liquidous range of more than 300 0C, compared to the 100 0C newlineliquidous range of water. Different reactions were studied using Ionic Liquid as catalyst. Phenols are alkylated newlineusing Ionic Liquids as catalyst in which mono substituted products are obtained in newlinehigh yield. Esterification of Acid oil containing high FFA (Free Fatty Acid) was newlinecarried using IL as acid catalyst, to obtain FAME (Free Acid Methyl Esters) which newlinemeets ASTDM standard of Biodiesel. Epoxidation of unsaturated oil was studied newlineusing Ionic Liquid as PTC. Ionic Liquid has also used as extracting solvent for aromatic compounds from aliphatics. Better selectivity was observed for the extraction process.