An Operationally Simple and Scalable Approach to Functionalized Ionic Liquids from Phosphonium and N-Heterocyclic Halide Salts

An approach toward the synthesis of N-heterocyclic anionic ionic liquids is described. The ionic liquids are readily obtained by the treatment of the sodium salt of the parent N-heterocycle with the halide salt of the desired cation. Good to excellent yields (62–99%) of the corresponding ionic liquids are obtained without the use of excessive materials and time associated with conventional methods for synthesizing heterocyclic based ionic liquids.