Mar 18, 2019
Ionic Liquids 4.0
Chemists from the TU Dresden present a new class of tailor-made aryl-alkyl-substituted ionic liquids (TAAILs) in the renowned journal "Chemistry - A European Journal".
TAAILs - Tailor-made designer materials: it sounds like a hip new fashion brand, but in reality it comes from the chemistry laboratory. Tailor-made aryl-alkyl-substituted ionic liquids (TAAILs) are the fourth generation of ionic liquids in which the physical properties can to a large extent be adapted to the technical requirements needed. The term "ionic liquids" refers to salts that are liquid at temperatures below 100° Celsius. They consist of organic cations and inorganic or organic anions and are used in a variety of ways due to their special properties, including as solvents or electrolytes.
TAAILs consist of an imidazolium cation which is provided on one side with an aryl ring and on the other side with an alkyl chain, and a weakly coordinating anion. The individual components can be varied at will. Chemist Prof. Dr. Thomas Straßner from the Chair of Physical Organic Chemistry at TU Dresden has been working with his team on the composition of TAAILs for more than 10 years. Now they have achieved a decisive breakthrough:
"For the first time, we were able to synthesize a series of TAAILs with palladium-containing anions. Many of these metal-containing salts are liquid at room temperature. The resulting combination of the physical properties of the ionic liquids and the catalytic activity of the palladium components is very promising. Since ionic liquids cannot evaporate, they are often referred to as environmentally friendly solvents. Our palladium TAAILs are suitable as catalysts for organic coupling reactions. The practical thing is that the TAAIL catalyst is also a solvent," says Prof. Straßner, describing the advantages of the new substances.
To determine the molecular properties of the salts, the scientists used various analytical methods, including X-ray diffraction in the solid state, for example.
Prof. Straßner and his team are fascinated by the numerous possibilities offered by this new class of substances. They now want to investigate the further application possibilities of their TAAILs in more detail.
Original publication:
„Tailored Palladate Tunable Aryl Alkyl Ionic Liquids (TAAILs)“, Felix Schroeter, Johannes Soellner, Thomas Strassner, Chem. Eur. J. 16 January 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201804431
Media inquiries:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Straßner
Chair of Physical Organic Chemistry
phone: +49 (0) 351 463-38571