Catalysis in ionic liquids

A review in the use of ionic liquids' solvents in catalyzed reactions as well as its use in biocatalytic and electrocatalyzed reactions has been presented. These reactions include hydrogenation, catalytic oxidation, acid-base-catalyzed reactions, carbonylation and hydroformylation, dimerization, polymerization, Heck reaction, Suzuki cross-coupling and other related reaction. The study clearly shows a large potential using the combination of ILs and solid catalysts in both liquid-phase and gas-phase reactions. The latter shows the versatility of ILs in stabilizing homogeneous catalysts and enables good mass transport of gas reagents using thin films of the ionic liquid.