Thermophysical Properties of Imidazolium-Functionalized Binols and Their Application in Asymmetric Catalysis

We report here the thermophysical properties of a new family of imidazolium-functionalized binaphthols. These properties are influenced by the position of the imidazolium moieties on the binaphthol skeleton, the counteranions, and the length of the carbon chain on the imidazolium moieties. The ionic character of these molecules was also exploited to develop ligands for the catalytic aldehyde ethylation reaction in ionic liquid media. We were able to easily recover both the ionic ligands and the ionic liquid solvent, and the reaction afforded good to excellent yields, with average selectivity.