Oldamur Hollóczki

Carbenes in ionic liquids

The chemistry of 1,3-dialkylimidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) can easily be linked to that of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) in the presence of sufficiently basic counteranions. B3LYP/6-31+G*, B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ and MP2/6-311+G** studies show that increasing the basicity of the anionic component the relative stability of the ion pair and that of the hydrogen bonded complex of the corresponding free acid and NHC itself can be shifted toward the formation of NHC. In the case of the acetate anion, the ion pair and the NHC-acetic acid complex have similar stability. Photoelectron spectroscopic studies show that the vapor of EMIM-acetate is dominated by the NHC-acetic acid complex. The mass spectrum of the same compound shows the presence of both acetic acid and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium-2-ylidene, in agreement with the low pressure during the MS experiment, which facilitates dissociation. The possibility of systematic and simple variation of the NHC content of the ILs facilitates the extension of carbene chemistry in ionic liquids.

Hydrolysis of Imidazole-2-ylidenes

The direct reaction of an imidazole-2-ylidene in a predominantly aqueous environment [about 0.1 M solution in a H(2)O (>60%)/THF solvent system] was investigated for the first time. The reaction yielded a stable solution of the corresponding imidazolium-hydroxide of pH 13, which is in agreement with results from an ab initio molecular dynamics simulation. In contrast, hydrolysis of the carbene in a mainly aprotic environment (>80% THF) gives a hydrogen-bridged carbene-water complex which could be detected by NMR and IR spectroscopies for the first time. This complex converts slowly to two isomeric ring opened products and is at higher water concentration in dynamic equilibrium with the imidazolium hydroxide. A computational mechanistic study of the carbene hydrolysis with a gradually increasing number of water molecules revealed that the imidazolium-hydroxide structure can only be optimized with three or more water molecules as reactants, and with the increasing number of water molecules its stability is increasing with respect to the carbene-water complex. In agreement with the experimental results, these findings point out that solvent stabilization and basicity of the hydroxide ion plays a crucial role in the reaction. With increasing number of water molecules the barriers connecting the reaction intermediates are getting smaller, and the ring opened hydrolysis products can be derived from imidazolium-hydroxide type intermediates. Computational studies on the hydrolysis of a nonaromatic imidazolidine-2-ylidene analogue clearly indicated the analogous ring-opened product to be by 10-12 kcal/mol more stable than the appropriate ion pair and the carbene-water complex, in agreement with the known aromatic stabilization of imidazol-2-ylidenes. Accordingly, these molecules hydrolyze with exclusive formation of the ring-opened product.

An organocatalytic ionic liquid

The carbene concentration in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium-acetate ionic liquid is sufficiently high to act as a catalyst in benzoin condensation, hydroacylation and also in oxidation of an alcohol by using CO(2) and air. This observation reveals the potential of ionic liquid organocatalysts, uniting the beneficial properties of these two families of compounds.

Significant Cation Effects in Carbon Dioxide–Ionic Liquid Systems

Carbon dioxide–ionic liquid systems are of great current interest, and significant efforts have been made lately to understand the intermolecular interactions in these systems. In general, all the experimental and theoretical studies have concluded so far that the main solute–solvent interaction takes effect through the anion, and the cation has no, or only a secondary role in solvation. In this theoretical approach it is shown that this view is unfounded, and evidence is provided that, similarly to the benzene–CO2 system, dispersion interactions are present between the solute and the cation. Therefore, this defines a novel site for tailoring solvents to tune CO2 solubility.

Multiresolution calculation of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids—which are special solvents composed entirely of ions—are difficult albeit interesting to study for several reasons. Owing to the many possible cation and anion combinations that form ionic liquids, common properties are hard to classify for them, which makes the theoretical investigation crucial for ionic liquids. The system size, the amount of possible isomers including cation–anion orientation and coordination, as well as the rotation of the side chain(s) prevent the use of high‐level electronic structure methods, and density functional theory is the method of choice. Dispersion forces—although they are small compared to electrostatics—play a major role in ionic liquids; therefore, methods that describe such kind of interplay are preferred. Between the cation and the anion, there is a sizable charge transfer, which has important consequences for molecular dynamics simulations and force field development. Already based on the first generation of force fields important discoveries were made, namely that ionic liquids are nanostructured. Moreover, it was possible to predict that their distillation is possible. Throughout the construction of these force fields, transferability was taken into account which allowed them to describe homologous series. For studying reactions in ionic liquid (IL) media, continuum models were found to improve the results. Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and quantum mechanics (QM)/molecular mechanics (MM) approaches are well suited for spontaneous events. In case of very large systems, such as cellulose in ionic liquids, coarse‐grained methods are providing insight and are applied more frequently. This makes ionic liquids real multiscalar systems. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2015, 5:202–214. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1212

Ion pairing in ionic liquids

In the present article we briefly review the extensive discussion in literature about the presence or absence of ion pair-like aggregates in ionic liquids. While some experimental studies point towards the presence of neutral subunits in ionic liquids, many other experiments cannot confirm or even contradict their existence. Ion pairs can be detected directly in the gas phase, but no direct method is available to observe such association behavior in the liquid, and the corresponding indirect experimental proofs are based on such assumptions as unity charges at the ions. However, we have shown by calculating ionic liquid clusters of different sizes that assuming unity charges for ILs is erroneous, because a substantial charge transfer is taking place between the ionic liquid ions that reduce their total charge. Considering these effects might establish a bridge between the contradicting experimental results on this matter. Beside these results, according to molecular dynamics simulations the lifetimes of ion-ion contacts and their joint motions are far too short to verify the existence of neutral units in these materials.

An abnormal N-heterocyclic carbene-carbon dioxide adduct from imidazolium acetate ionic liquids: the importance of basicity.

In the reaction of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [C2C1Im][OAc] ionic liquid with carbon dioxide at 125 °C and 10 MPa, not only the known N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-CO2 adduct I, but also isomeric aNHC-CO2 adducts II and III were obtained. The abnormal NHC-CO2 adducts are stabilized by the presence of the polarizing basic acetate anion, according to static DFT calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics studies. A further possible reaction pathway is facilitated by the high basicity of the system, deprotonating the initially formed NHC-CO2 adduct I, which can then be converted in the presence of the excess of CO2 to the more stable 2-deprotonated anionic abnormal NHC-CO2 adduct via the anionic imidazolium-2,4-dicarboxylate according to DFT calculations on model compounds. This suggests a generalizable pathway to abnormal NHC complex formation.

Neutral species from "non-protic" N-heterocyclic ionic liquids

Possible isomerisation of 1,2,3-trialkylimidazolium and 1-alkylpyridinium ion pairs by proton transfer and by the nucleophilic addition of the anion to the cation have been investigated at the B3LYP/6-31+G* and B3LYP/6-311+G** levels of density functional theory. The deprotonation energies of 1,2,3-trialkylimidazolium and 1-alkylpyridinium cations to diaza-pentafulvene and pyridinium-ylide, respectively, were only slightly larger than that of 1,3-dialkylimidazolium salts yielding N-heterocyclic carbenes. Accordingly, in the case of 1,2,3-dialkylimidazolium salt ion pairs the stability of the H-bonded complex between the fulvene and the corresponding acid can be comparable to that of the ion pair in the presence of sufficiently basic anions, such as acetate. In the case of the pyridinium salts the nucleophilicity of the cation dominates over the acidity, and the formation of 1,2- or 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives is preferred over proton transfer.

Side chain fluorination and anion effect on the structure of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids

We present a comprehensive molecular dynamics simulation study on 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids and their fluorinated analogs. The work focused on the effect of fluorination at varying anions. The main findings are that the fluorination of the cations side chain increases overall structuring, especially the aggregation of cation side chain. Furthermore, large and weakly coordinating anions tend to occupy on-top positions of the cation and decrease the aggregation of cation side chains, most likely due to enhanced alkyl-anion interaction.

An aromatic-antiaromatic switch in P-heteroles. A small change in delocalisation makes a big reactivity difference.

The low aromaticity of phosphole can be switched to low antiaromaticity by oxidizing the phosphorus atom. This subtle change in the mode of delocalisation alters substantially the chemical behaviour of these heteroles.