Microwave-Assisted Organic Synthesis in Ionic Liquids

Revolution in organic compound synthesis has been promoted by microwave-assisted organic syntheses (MAOS) by which small molecules are built up into large polymers in a fraction of time. Ionic liquids (ILs), considered being a relatively recent magical chemical due to their unique properties, have a large variety of applications in all areas of the chemical industries. Nonvolatility and nonflammability are their common characteristics giving them an advantageous edge in various applications. This common advantage, when considered with the possibility of tuning the chemical and physical properties of ILs by changing anioncation combination, is a great opportunity to obtain task-specific ILs for a multitude of specific applications. In previous reviews on this subject, the focus of MAOS has been on the process of MAOS reactions rather than the importance given to the related applications. This review focuses on properties of ILs and their use in organic synthesis of heterocyclic compounds under microwave exposure. In this review, a general description of ILs and historical background are given; basic properties of ILs such as solvent properties are discussed; structure of ILs, cation, anion types, and synthesis methods in the related literature and synthesis of different heterocyclic compounds in ILs are briefly summarized.