Ionic Liquids in Metal Catalyzed Reactions

In the last years, ionic liquids have been extensively studied as alternative solvents for chemical reactions and for many more diverse applications. Their preparation is generally not complicated and their commercial availability is steadily increasing. Furthermore, there is a substantial amount of literature dealing with their toxicity, biodegradability, and their physico-chemical properties. Ionic liquids should be synthesized to fulfil both technical and environmental needs and in this regard important information have been collected by scientists so far. Ionic liquids can be used alone or in combination with other solvents (ie, carbon dioxide or water) in order to produce multiphase systems for chemical processes allowing recycling and isolation of pure reaction products. With this chapter the authors wish to provide a survey on the use of these neoteric solvents for metal catalyzed transformations focusing on the examples where they clearly offer benefits in terms of recyclability, selectivity, and activity compared to common organic media.