Ionic Liquid Gels: Supramolecular Reaction Media for the Alcoholysis of Anhydrides

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/acs.joc.9b00684

The search of new enantioselective catalysts, able to promote synthetically useful organic reactions with high levels of asymmetric induction, should be associated with the attention to the suitable reaction medium able to achieve the best efficiency in c

Full text of DOI:10.1021/acs.joc.9b00684

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Article
Ionic Liquid Gels: Supramolecular Reaction
Media for the Alcoholysis of Anhydrides
Carla Rizzo, Alessandro Mandoli, Salvatore Marullo, and Francesca D'Anna
J. Org. Chem., Just Accepted Manuscript • Publication Date (Web): 19 Apr 2019
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Ionic Liquid Gels: Supramolecular Reaction Media for the Alcoholysis of Anhydrides
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Carla Rizzo,† Alessandro Mandoli,§ Salvatore Marullo† and Francesca D’Anna.*†
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† Università degli Studi di Palermo, Dipartimento Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e
Farmaceutiche, Sezione di Chimica, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 17, 90128 Palermo, Italia.
§ Università di Pisa, Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi, n 13,
56124, Pisa, Italia.
Corresponding author E-mail: francesca.danna@unipa.it
Abstract
The search of new enantioselective catalysts, able to promote synthetically useful organic
reactions with high levels of asymmetric induction, should be associated with the attention to the
suitable reaction medium able to achieve the best efficiency in chemical processes.
We have investigated the enantioselective desymmetrization of cyclic meso-anhydrides in non-
conventional reaction media such as ionic liquids and supramolecular gels. With this aim, we
examined several variables in the reacting system: the nature of ionic liquid used as the reaction
medium, the gelation solvent, the structure of the anhydrides, the structure of alcohols, the chiral
catalysts and the reaction conditions, i.e. temperature and time.
The different components of the system differently influence the reaction outcome and to
1
understand the interactions existing among them, H NMR investigation was carried out. In
general, the non-conventional reaction media demonstrated better performance than
conventional ones, applying only a small amount of solvent. Good results in terms of yield and
enantiomeric excess have been obtained in ionic liquid gels that seem promising media in the
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catalytic field. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first examples for the
study of asymmetric alcoholysis of anhydrides in ionic liquid solution and gel phase.
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Keywords: ionic liquid, ionic liquid gels, supramolecular gel, quinidine organocatalyst, asymmetric
alcoholysis of cyclic anhydride.
TOC
Introduction
One of the challenges in modern organic synthesis is the preparation of complex chiral compounds
in high yield and enantiomeric purity. Indeed, several enantioselective catalysts have been
developed and applied to perform complex reactions to obtain natural products and biologically
active substances.1 Besides this main goal, in the last decades also the environmental
sustainability of the chemical process became crucial. Indeed, according to the third and the fifth
principles of Green Chemistry, the use of complex synthetic pathways has been discouraged, in
favour of procedures that make use of minimal amounts of solvent or alternative reaction media.2
In particular, ionic liquids (ILs) have conquered the definition of “green solvents” thanks to their
low volatility and flammability.3,4 They are formed by organic cations and inorganic or organic
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anions presenting melting temperature below 100 °C. Furthermore, in dependence on their
structural features, cations and anions can be interconnected through weak interactions such as
 stacking, hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions forming a supramolecular network
that enables an additional level of control in some chemical processes.5 Thus ILs, carrying out the
double role of solvents and catalysts, have been widely applied not only for academic studies of
several organic reactions but also,6,7 and above all, in some industrial processes.8,9
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Similarly, supramolecular interactions might favour the outcome of a given reaction10 and it has
been shown the advantage of using confined reaction media such as organo- and hydrogels.11-13
Supramolecular gels are formed by a low molecular weight gelator interacting through non
covalent bonds to form a self-assembled fibrillar network able to trap a solvent.14,15 When the
gelation solvent is an IL, the material can be defined as ionic liquid gel (ILG).16,17 These materials
are easily tuneable and can be applied for several purposes spanning from the energy field, where
they have been used as conductive materials in electronic devices,18,19 to the biological,20,21 the
antioxidant22 and the environmental one.23,24 Despite the large employment in catalysis of ionic
liquid-silica gels comprising also metal nanoparticles,25-27 the use of supramolecular ILGs in this
area is quite new and promising. Indeed, a successful application of a Brønsted‐acidic ILG leading
to excellent yields in short reaction times has been reported for the synthesis of
bis(indolyl)methanes.26 As well as a series of basic ILGs have been applied to the hydrogen
borrowing mediated dehydration of 1,3 propanediol, obtaining excellent conversions, selectivity
and recyclability.28 Furthermore, the fine tuning of the right combination of ILs or ILGs seems to
explain also the different catalytic efficiency of the common organocatalyst L-proline, employed
for the aldol reaction. In this study, the high degree of supramolecular organization induced by ILs
and ILGs enhanced the activity and the asymmetric induction.29
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Following this approach, we decided to examine if the use of ILs or ILGs could provide synthetically
useful enantioselectivity levels in more organized media. Our main goal was the study of the
solvent medium effect (IL or ILG) on the outcome of the desymmetrization of cyclic meso-
anhydrides, assuming it could behave as a probe of molecular and supramolecular interactions. In
this regard, it is worth noting that ILs are well established solvents for acylation reactions,30,31 and
that ILG supramolecular systems could conjugate advantages deriving from the presence of
confined reaction media with a better extraction of the product from the gel phase. However, to
the best of our knowledge, at the beginning of the present study no example of enantioselective
opening of meso-anhydrides, in either of the two non-conventional reaction media, had been
reported.
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Indeed, the catalytic desymmetrization of cyclic meso-anhydrides has been widely studied for the
purpose of elucidating its mechanism32-34 and as a benchmark of new enantioselective catalysts.35
After the pioneering work of the groups of Oda and Aitken with native Cinchona alkaloids,36,37 and
the subsequent optimization by Bolm and co-workers,38,39 also chiral Lewis acids,40 monomeric
and dimeric alkaloid derivatives,32,41,42 bifunctional compounds,43-45 and chiral Brønsted acids46
proved to be competent catalysts for this class of reactions. On the contrary, much less efforts
were devoted to the reduction of the environmental impact of the process. Indeed, even if, some
studies include enzymatic catalysis to obtain desymmetrization products, also in those conditions,
long reaction times (5 days, 5 weeks) and conventional organic solvents are required.47-49 In
addition, despite the high efficiency reached, most of methodologies employ aqueous media with
consequent hard product separation and purification. In a notable exception, Bolm and co-
workers applied the ball milling technique to afford optically active dicarboxylic acid monoesters in
good yields and in solvent free conditions. In this approach, they achieved a simplified product
isolation thanks to the use of almost equimolar amounts of the starting materials and the
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quinidine organocatalyst.50 In addition, immobilized variants of the most effective Cinchona
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alkaloid organocatalysts were developed and showed good recyclability in some cases.51,52
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Hence, in the present work, the enantioselective desymmetrization of cyclic meso-anhydrides has
been employed as model reaction and has been performed in ILs and ILGs. Several variables in the
reacting system, such as the nature of IL or ILG, the gelation solvent, the structure of the
anhydrides, the structure of alcohols, the chiral catalysts and the reaction conditions, have been
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examined. In addition, H NMR analysis allowed investigating the interactions among the several
components of the system.
Results and discussion
In order to tackle the goal stated above, we firstly focused the attention on the asymmetric
alcoholysis of cis-1,2,3,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (1) as a typical cyclic meso-substrate and
precursor to the synthetically valuable chiral hemiesters 2a-2c (Scheme 1a).53-56
Concerning the reaction medium, initially we analysed how the solvent affects the outcome of the
process using some of the most common monocationic ILs (Scheme 1b). To introduce a further
level of structural hierarchy in our reaction systems, next we examined the use of ILGs.
In this regard it is important to note that, besides the careful selection of the solvent, in order to
obtain environmentally sustainable materials, also the choice of gelators should fall on easily
synthesizable and whenever possible, eco-friendly compounds. Because dicationic organic salts
can satisfy such requests,57 di-3,3’-di-n-dodecyl-1,1’-(1,4-phenylenedimethylene)diimidazolium
ethylenediaminetetraacetate, [p-C12im]2[Edta] (Scheme 1c), was chosen for the purpose. In fact,
this gelator combines a cation with a proven gelling ability with a biocompatible anion and is able
to form gels in a wide range of solvents, comprising both organic solvents and ILs.58
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Reasoning that the IL solvent or gelator might provide electrophilic activation of the carbonyl
substrate through hydrogen-bonding (vide infra), amongst the many effective organocatalysts for
the reaction under exam, we selected the purely Lewis-basic dimeric hydroquinidine ether 332,41
and its monomeric counterpart 459 (Scheme 1d).
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Because ILs may exert a catalytic effect in acylation reactions on their own, even when devoid of
task-specific groups,60,61 before addressing the issue of stereoselectivity, it became important to
evaluate the behaviour of 1 in the neat IL or ILG phases. Therefore, the enantioselective
alcoholysis runs were preceded by the study of the same reactions in either of the two types of
non-conventional media, but in the absence of any added chiral organocatalyst.
Scheme 1. a) Model alcoholysis reactions; b) structures of ILs used as reaction media; c) structure of gelator used to form the
supramolecular gels; d) structures of chiral catalysts; e) images of white opaque ILGs formed by [p-C12im]2[Edta] in [bmim][NTf2]
(left) and of the same gel after the reaction was performed using a chiral catalyst (right).
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Reactions in ILs
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At the onset of this work, we tested the influence of solvent system, by comparing the results in
ILs differing for both the cation and anion structure. The set of solvents selected included four 1-
butyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ILs, namely [bmim][BF4], [bmim][NTf2], [bmim][PF6] and
[bmim][SbF6], bearing anions having different size, shape, hydrogen bonding accepting ability and
hydrophobicity.
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In the series of aromatic ILs, we also used [bm2im][NTf2] to evaluate the effect of the cation ability
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to give hydrogen bond. Finally, we employed five [NTf2 ]-based ILs with the aim to assess the role
played by the IL cation structure on the outcome of the reaction. So, together with [bmim][NTf2]
and [bm2im][NTf2], we also used aliphatic ILs bearing cyclic or acyclic cations such as
[bmpyrr][NTf2], [bmpip][NTf2] and [bEt3N][NTf2].
Initially, the reaction was carried out using the anhydride 1 at 4 °C, with methanol as the alcohol
component. In agreement with the Green Chemistry principles, the minimal amount of solvent
was employed as needed to dissolve the anhydride. Thanks to the high solubilisation ability of ILs,
this was equal to 500 L on a 0.1 mmol scale, i.e. between 20 and 30-fold less than usually
reported in literature for the asymmetric process in conventional solvents.32,33
Then, the required volume of MeOH was added to start the reaction, in two series of experiments
carried out with a large excess of alcohol with respect to the anhydride (200 L, 48 equiv.) and
with a lower amount (50 L, 12 equiv.), respectively.
The reactions were monitored through TLC, observing in all cases no significant formation of
products different from 2a. The yield of the reaction was obtained at the fixed reaction time of 24
h, after recovery of the product by extraction with Et2O and flash chromatography. The results
obtained in the various runs are summarized in Table 1 together with the solvent polarity
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parameter, ET , and the Kamlet-Taft solvatochromic descriptors  and . As discussed in the
N
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following, the latter represent the ability of the medium to behave as a donor () or acceptor of
hydrogen bonds (), respectively.62
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Table 1. Solvent parameters, amount of MeOH used, and yield of 2a obtained for reactions carried out for 24 h, at 4 °C in ILs or in
conventional organic solvents.
Entry
1
Solventa
ET b
Yield (%)e
95
b

 b
MeOH (L)
200c
50d
N
[bmim][BF4]
0.670
0.644
0.542
0.544
0.627
0.376
2
44
3
[bmim][NTf2]
[bm2im][NTf2]
[bmpyrr][NTf2]
0.617
0.381
0.427
0.243
0.239
0.252
200c
50d
71
4
15
5
200c
50d
51
6
37
7
200c
50d
51
8
39
9
[bmpip][NTf2]
[bEt3N][NTf2]
[bmim][PF6]
[bmim][SbF6]
1-Octanol
0.528
-
0.433
-
0.338
0.303
0.207
0.146
0.81
200c
200c
200c
200c
200c
200c
50d
87
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11
12
13
14
15
58
0.669
0.673
0.543
0.117
0.634
0.639
0.77
0.00
26
10
<5
Diethyl ether
0.47
36
22
a Runs with 0.1 mmol of 1 and 500 L of solvent; b Values from references63,64 ; c (4.9 mmol, 48 equiv.); d(1.2
e
mmol, 12 equiv.); Isolated yield after flash chromatography; yield values were reproducible within 4%
after triplicate runs.
In order to make a comparison with the use of ordinary solvents, the reaction was performed also
in diethyl ether and 1-octanol. The former solvent is one of the most common media employed for
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the study of this process,35,65 while the choice of the latter was prompted by its comparable
polarity to the one of ILs and by the fact that the diimidazolium salt, [p-C12im]2[Edta], is able to gel
it.
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With the only exception of [bmim][PF6] and [bmim][SbF6], yields obtained using 200 L of MeOH,
in the absence of any added catalyst, result higher than the ones collected in conventional media
(entries 1,3,5,7,9,10-12 vs. entries 13-14).
In general, data collected in the presence of a larger excess of MeOH, shed light on the effect of
the IL structure on the outcome of the reaction. They clearly outline the relevance of the anion
hydrogen bonding accepting ability, as accounted for by the decrease in yield values that perfectly
recalls the one in  values ([bmim][BF4] > [bmim][NTf2] > [bmim][PF6] > [bmim][SbF6]; entries
1,3,11,12).
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A less regular trend was obtained as a function of the cation structure. Indeed, for [NTf2 ]-based
ILs, we did not obtain a clear correlation between yield and  values. In general, yield in 2a
decreases on going from [bmim][NTf2] to [bm2im][NTf2] (entries 3 and 5) and from [bmpip][NTf2]
to [bEt3N][NTf2] and [bmpyrr][NTf2] (entries 9, 10 and 7), allowing to state a certain relevance of
the cation ability to give hydrogen bond.
For some selected IL systems, namely [bmim][BF4], [bmim][NTf2], [bm2im][NTf2] and
[bmpyrr][NTf2] (entries 2,4,6,8), we also performed the reaction in the presence of 50 L of
MeOH, evidencing a less significant effect of the IL structure. However, also in this case, with the
only exception of [bmim][NTf2], higher yields were obtained in ILs than in conventional solvents.
To explain the trends, it must be considered that MeOH could act in different ways on the reaction
under exam: i) in a direct concentration-dependent manner, due to its role as the nucleophilic
reagent; ii) through a dilution effect, expected to favour the product formation because of the
reduced IL viscosity; iii) as a hydrogen bond donor, in assistance to the opening of the anhydride
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ring in the transition state (general acid catalysis); iv) by interference with the cation-anion
hydrogen bond network in the IL structure, which might allow the IL cation to act as a general acid
catalyst itself (Scheme 2).
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While a clear-cut separation of all these effects is difficult, our results seem to rule out a dominant
contribution by the second and the third phenomena. In particular, taking in consideration
[bmim+]-based ILs, the highest yields were obtained in a more viscous medium like [bmim][BF4]
(= 233 cP) (entry 1).66 Moreover, changes in yields observed as function of MeOH amount proved
comparable in [bmim][BF4] (entries 1-2) and in the least viscous solvent in the series,
[bmim][NTf2] (=52 cP) (entries 3-4).66 On the other hand, also the MeOH contribution as a direct
hydrogen bond donor appears to play a secondary role, with respect to [bmim+]-cation, as
accounted for by the decrease in yields on going from [bmim][NTf2] to [bm2im][NTf2] under
MeOH-rich conditions (entries 3 and 5).
On the contrary, the data in Table 1 appear in agreement with the hypothesis that the protic
solvent MeOH interferes to some extent with the cation-anion interaction, to increase the ability
of the IL cation to assist the opening of the anhydride via hydrogen bond formation (Scheme 2).
O
Me
Me
O
N
N
X
H
vs.
O
H
O
O
N
Bu
N
Me
Me
H
H
Bu
X
H
O
Me
Scheme 2. Schematic representation of the possible interaction between an imidazolium IL and the anhydride 1.
The results in Table 1 indicate that the overall effect does not depend only on the amount of
added MeOH. However, also the tightness of the ion pair in the neat IL and the propensity of the
anionic fragment to be solvated by the alcohol component play a role. In this respect, it is not
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surprising that the IL with the tighter ion pair, [bmim][BF4], proved to be also the most responsive
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to the presence of a large excess of MeOH. Indeed, in addition to the coordinating catalytic effect
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of the [BF4 ] anion increasing the nucleophilicity of MeOH, its stronger solvation by the alcohol
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could result in a [bmim+] cation more available to interact with the anhydride. In this case, the IL
seems to act as a bifunctional catalyst. A similar behavior has been previously detected performing
kinetic study of base-induced elimination reaction and mononuclear rearrangement of
heterocycles in IL solution.67,68
Conversely, in the presence of a smaller amount of MeOH, a tighter IL ion pair should be active,
decreasing the catalytic effect.
To further support the above hypothesis, we took in consideration [bmim][BF4] and [bmim][NTf2]
1
and recorded H NMR spectra in the presence of increasing amounts of MeOH (50 and 200 L;
Figure S1-S2). In both cases a deshielding effect on the aromatic protons of imidazolium ion was
observed and the above effect increased with cosolvent volume.
In general, chemical shift changes were more significant in the case of [bmim][BF4] than in the
presence of [bmim][NTf2] (Figure S3), according to the higher structural order degree of the first IL
deriving from the stronger and more extensive cation-anion interaction. The above result perfectly
agrees with the one previously reported about the presence of different ion pairs in IL/cosolvent
binary mixtures as a function of their composition. 67, 64
However, when hydrogen bond donor ability is comparable ([bmpyrr][NTf2] and [bmpip][NTf2]),
the increase in  value induces a concomitant increase in yield, evidencing a higher relevance of
the solvent ability to accept than to give hydrogen bond.
All the above hypotheses could explain the larger yields obtained in ILs with respect to the use of a
conventional solvent, like diethyl ether, under comparable conditions and even in the absence of
any additional catalysts.
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Reactions in gel phases
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Once proved the ability of ILs to catalyse the reaction, we tested supramolecular ILGs as reaction
media. As anticipated, the dicationic organic salt [p-C12im]2[Edta] is able to gel several solvents,
among which [bmim][BF4], [bmim][NTf2], [bmpyrr][NTf2] and 1-octanol.58 Gels were prepared at a
gelator concentration of 5 wt % with respect to the gelation solvent and, in order to avoid the
disruption of gel phases, reactions were performed with 50 L of MeOH.
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The results obtained in gel phase and in the corresponding IL solution, without any catalysts, at 4
°C for 24 h are reported in Figure 1 (Table S2).
Figure 1. Yield of 2a obtained in solution (purple) and in the gel phase (green), at 4 °C for 24 h (isolated yields after flash
chromatography; yield values were reproducible within 4%, after triplicate runs).
Interestingly, in all of the examined ILGs the reaction presented comparable or even larger yields
than in the corresponding IL solution. On the contrary, for the organogel prepared from 1-octanol
no appreciable product formation was observed and, in addition, the organogel was partially
destroyed after extraction with Et2O. Therefore, at least for the reaction under study, ILGs are
clearly preferable to organogels as they keep their gel state even after the separation of the
product from the matrix.
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Because the use of IL supramolecular gels increases the yield in two out of three cases, a positive
but selective effect of the supramolecular network on the rate of the probe reaction is operating.
In turn, this resulted in a change of the reactivity order vs. neat ILs, with product yields now
decreasing as follows: [bmim][NTf2] > [bmpyrr][NTf2] > [bmim][BF4] (the gelator being [p-
C12im]2[Edta] in all cases).
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The fact that the gel in [bmim][NTf2] showed the best performance while that in [bmim][BF4] the
worst one, might look surprising at first. Nevertheless, one must consider that gels as reaction
media are really different from solutions and that data obtained in the gel phase are influenced by
soft-material properties such as rheology parameters, temperature of gel-sol transition (Tgel) or
viscosity of the gelation solvent.
First of all, we have previously demonstrated that gelation solvent drastically influences
supramolecular gel properties.58 In particular, according to the rheological parameter (tan) that
gives an idea of the stiffness of the gel (higher at lower tan  values) and to the one that
represents the level of stress needed to detect the flow of a material (stress %), it seems that the
reaction is favoured in less strong gels (Table S3). Results are also supported by Tgel values, as the
more thermally stable gel is [p-C12im]2[Edta] in [bmim][BF4] in which we detected the lowest yield
value. In addition, viscosity of gelation solvents well supports the above explanation as it increases
in an opposite trend respect to yield obtained in gel phases [bmim][NTf2] < [bmpyrr][NTf2] <
[bmim][BF4] (Table S1).
The findings above suggest that results collected are mainly determined by the flexibility of the ILG
network, and its ability to conform to reagents structural changes during the progress of the
reaction.
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Effect of alcohol structure and alkaloid catalyst
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Encouraged by the results in ILs and in gel phases, we moved to explore the effect of adding an
alkaloid organocatalyst or changing the structure of the alcohol (Table 2). With this aim, the best
performing gel, [p-C12im]2[Edta] in [bmim][NTf2], and the corresponding IL solution were selected
as the reaction media, while the mono quinidine derivative 4 (5 mol%) was employed as the basic
catalyst. Besides methanol, benzyl alcohol (12 equiv. in both cases) was used as a more hindered
nucleophile, bearing also an aromatic group.
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Table 2. Yield of 2a and 2b in the reactions carried out for 24 h, at 4 °C in ILs and in gel phases.
Entry
Reaction mediuma Catalyst (mol%)
Alcohol
MeOH
MeOH
BnOH
BnOH
MeOH
MeOH
BnOH
BnOH
Product
2a
Yield (%)b
15
47
18
40
74
61
43
52
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
IL
none
4 (5)
none
4 (5)
none
4 (5)
none
4 (5)
2a
2b
2b
GEL
2a
2a
2b
2b
aRuns with 0.1 mmol of 1 and 50 L (1.2 mmol, 12 equiv.) of MeOH or 130 L (1.2 mmol, 12 equiv.) of
BnOH, in 500 L of [bmim][NTf2] or 500 mg of gel formed by 5 wt % of [p-C12im]2[Edta] in [bmim][NTf2];
bIsolated yield after flash chromatography; yield values were reproducible within 4%, after triplicate
runs.
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Irrespective of the actual conditions, yields obtained in gel phases were always larger than in IL
solution, to further support the importance of confined reaction media for the reaction under
exam.
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Moreover, in the IL solution the addition of 4 as a basic catalyst significantly increased the yield
with both alcohols, passing from 15% in the absence of catalyst to 47% in the presence of it, for
reaction with MeOH (entries 1-2), and from 18% to 40%, for reaction with BnOH (entries 3-4).
On the contrary, the catalytic effect of 4 was less efficient in gel phase, where we observed a
moderate increase in yield for the reaction of BnOH (43% to 52%; entries 7-8) but, actually, a slight
decrease with MeOH (74% to 61%; entries 5-6). Probably in solution the catalyst can easily fulfil its
function, whereas in the gel phase further phenomena may come into play. Possibly, these are
related to a modification of the gel structure by the alkaloid component and subsequent change of
the diffusion rate of the alcohol into the (relatively hydrophobic) gel matrix.
The same discrepancy between ILs and gels is recorded when a different alcohol is used to
perform the reaction. Indeed, the alcohol nature barely influenced the yields obtained in ILs
(entries 1 and 3), while they drastically decreased in gel phases when benzyl alcohol instead of
MeOH was used (entries 5 and 7). Probably, the higher steric hindrance of the phenyl group slows
down the rate of reaction and this effect is more evident in the confined reaction media than in
solution. A similar decrease in reactivity in presence of benzyl alcohol was also reported in
conventional solvents.69
Enantioselectivity of the reaction
Rather disappointingly, in all of the experiments of Table 2 with the chiral organocatalysts 4 the
hemiesters 2a or 2b were obtained in essentially racemic form. This was not totally unexpected,
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given the relatively fast reactions observed in ILs and, especially, gel phases devoid of any alkaloid
catalyst. Although these findings witness of an important background, not-stereoselective process,
the strong positive influence of temperature reduction on the enantioselectivity, often reported in
the literature for the asymmetric methanolysis of 1 in conventional solvents,35,65 prompted us to
examine if an analogous approach could be useful for the problem at hand. With this idea in mind,
the reaction of 1 and MeOH in [bmim][NTf2], or in the corresponding gel phase, was reexamined
at the temperature of -30 °C (Table 3). The runs were carried out in the presence of either 4 (5
mol%) or the corresponding dimeric organocatalyst 3 (2.5 mol%), with a reaction time increased to
48 h to compensate for the reduced reaction rates.
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Table 3. Yield and enantiomeric purity of hemiesters obtained in reactions carried out for 48 h, at -30 °C.
4
5
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8
Entry
Reaction
mediuma
IL
Catalyst
(mol%)
4 (5)
Anhydride
Alcohol
Product
Yield
(%)b
38
ee (%)c
1
MeOH
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2
3
4
5
3 (2.5)
4 (5)
MeOH
MeOH
MeOH
MeOH
88
78
92
53
24
81
9
GEL
3 (2.5)
4 (5)
Diethyl ether
83
6
7
3 (2.5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
4 (5)
MeOH
BnOH
20
36
93
21
38
39
38
99
99
48
14
3
IL
GEL
IL
8
BnOH
9
CF3CH2OH
CF3CH2OH
MeOH
79
80
16
12
36
61
10
11
12
13
14
GEL
IL
GEL
IL
MeOH
MeOH
GEL
MeOH
a Runs with 0.1 mmol of anhydride, 1.2 mmol (12 equiv.) of alcohol, and 500 L of Et2O or [bmim][NTf2] or 500 mg of
b
gel formed by 5 wt % [p-C12im]2[Edta] in [bmim][NTf2]; Isolated yield after flash chromatography, yields were
reproducible within 4%, after triplicate runs; c Determined via chiral HPLC.
Much to our delight, under these conditions fair to very good yields and measurable enantiomeric
excess (ee) values were obtained in every run. The result is especially intriguing when the gel
matrix is the reaction medium, because good enantioselectivity has been previously obtained in
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hydrogels formed through self-assembly of an organocatalyst attached to gelator molecules70 and
in hydrogels, where the chirality was induced by chiral nanomaterials,71 but rarely in ILGs. Taking
into account the observations at the beginning of this section, the findings above confirmed the
possibility to shut-down the non-stereoselective background process by cooling, which in turn
allowed the reaction to be largely funnelled through the alkaloid-mediated enantioselective route.
While the increased yields in the gel system with respect to pure IL conform to data in Figure 1
and Table 2, the influence of catalyst structure on the reaction progress and its enantioselectivity
is far less obvious. For instance, in spite of the same concentration of alkaloid units, the dimeric
organocatalyst 3 shows a significantly larger activity than the monomeric derivative 4 in the IL and
in the gel (Table 3, entries 1-2 and 3-4), but the reverse is true in diethyl ether (entries 5-6). Also
the dramatic fall in ee observed on switching from 4 to 3 in the gel medium (entries 3-4) and in the
conventional organic solvent (entries 5-6) has no literature precedent. On the contrary, in an
investigation of alkaloid organocatalysts with a phthalazine core, monomeric and dimeric
derivatives displayed similar activity and asymmetric induction extent in toluene,33 whereas, the
use of 3 under the reported literature conditions (7 mol% alkaloid catalysts, 0.01 M concentration
of 1 in diethyl ether) provides 2a with 98% ee.41
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The observation of a large enantioselectivity drop when the methanolysis promoted by 3 is
performed in concentrated solutions, is similar to the findings with other chiral organocatalysts,72
and is possibly related to the unsettled problem of how the reaction can proceed catalytically in 3
and with high asymmetric induction, even by forming the acidic hemiester product 2a.33,73,74 In any
case, it is remarkable that such a negative concentration effect seems to afflict the dimeric
organocatalyst 3 and not the monomeric analogue 4, both in the conventional solvent and in the
supramolecular gel-phase system. In this respect, it seems likely that the peculiar behaviour of 4
was a key factor in reaching the main goal of the present investigation, i.e. the attainment of
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synthetically useful asymmetric induction and yield levels in a concentrated reaction medium
devoid of volatile solvents. On the other hand, comparison with the results obtained in pure IL
confirms that the supramolecular structure of the gel phase was a second, essential factor for the
accomplishment of the same task. Indeed, the ILGs could act as a sort of hydrophobic cage-like
nanoreactor, in which only the right configuration of reagents, induced by effect of shape and size
selectivity could favour the transition state achievement.75 On the other hand, we have previously
observed effects of supramolecular activation in organic catalysis, studying the base-induced
elimination reaction of the tribromo-bis(phenyl-substituted)ethanes68 or performing the
mononuclear rearrangement of heterocycles.67,76
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The asymmetric alcoholysis, using the anhydride 1 and the monomeric catalyst 4, was also
performed using BnOH and trifluoroethanol (TFE), to assess the effect deriving from a different
alcohol structure.
Analysis of collected data shows that in IL solution yields increase in the order: TFE < BnOH ~
MeOH (entries 9, 7, 1); while in gel phase the following trend is observed: TFE < MeOH < BnOH
(10, 3, 8). In both cases, the lower reactivity of TFE perfectly matches its lower nucleophlicity;
nonetheless, in either medium this did not prevent the attainment of ee values comparable to
those observed with MeOH under best gel conditions (entries 9 and 10 vs. entry 3).
Differently from data collected at 4 °C, at a lower temperature, the steric hindrance of the benzyl
group does not adversely affect the activity of the catalyst.
Finally, to have information about the substrate influence, the reaction was also carried out using
1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic anhydride (1d) and cis-5-norbornene-endo-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride
(1e). Overall, yields in the order: 1d < 1 < 1e (entries 11, 1, 13 and 12, 3, 14 for ILs and gels), which
appears to mirror the decrease in conformational flexibility of the substrate. Interestingly, the
same factor also affects the stereoselectivity in IL solution, as accounted for by the fact that the
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highest ee value in this medium was obtained in the reaction of anhydride 1e. Moreover,
according to results collected in the case of 1, it significantly increases on going from IL to gel
phase.
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To have mechanistic insights on the reaction, and to have information about the interaction of
1
substrate and catalyst with the components of IL or gel phase, we tried to follow by H NMR the
methanolysis of 1, in the presence of the dimeric catalyst 3. Unfortunately, in both media, the
signals of substrate and catalyst were difficult to spot, due to their broadening and merging with
the overwhelming resonances from the surrounding matrix. To overcome this problem, we
prepared a CDCl3 solution of [bmim][NTf2], containing the other reactants at the suitable molar
ratio (see Experimental Section), and monitored the reaction progress by 1H NMR. The
measurements showed a gradual decrease of the signal of the olefinic protons of the anhydride 1
(5.93 ppm) and a concomitant increase of that due to the olefinic protons of the hemiester 2a
(5.63 ppm, see Figure S4), thereby confirming the formation of the target product also under
CDCl3-diluted conditions.
With the above information in mind, we searched next for any anhydride-IL, catalyst-IL and
catalyst-MeOH interactions in the same IL-CDCl3 medium (Figure S5, S6 and S7). Interestingly, the
addition of the anhydride to [bmim][NTf2] solution induces a shielding effect on H2 of the
imidazolium ion ( = 0.05 ppm; Figure S5), which can provide some supporting evidence to the
hypothesis about the ability of the IL cation to assist the opening of the anhydride via hydrogen
bond formation (see above).
Moreover, the addition of MeOH to the solution containing catalyst 3 induces a shielding effect of
the proton in the ortho-position to the nitrogen of the quinidine unit (8.65 ppm, Figure S7). Such a
shielding effect increases as a function of the MeOH amount ( = 0.05 and 0.12 ppm in the
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presence of 50 L and 200 L of MeOH, respectively) and could be a clear indication of interaction
between the catalyst and the nucleophile.
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7
8
9
On the contrary, attempts to identify substrate-catalyst and product-catalyst interactions, also
using 2D NMR investigation, did not give useful information. On this ground, we suppose that the
reaction proceeds through a general base catalysed mechanism, in which the IL anion-MeOH and
catalyst-MeOH interactions induce an increase in the alcohol nucleophilicity and thus promote the
progress of the non-stereoselective and stereoselective reaction, respectively. In addition, the
good ee values recorded, above all in the gel phase, can be considered as the result of the action
of the “asymmetric environment” that becomes gradually more important in a condensed phase,
like the gel one, which significantly slows down both diffusion and conformational exchanges
rates. This latter hypothesis could also explain why the best results in terms of activity, as well as
enantioselectivity, were detected in the presence of the more flexible monomeric catalyst 4 that
to a higher extent should be affected by the action of the condensed phase.
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Conclusions
ILs and supramolecular ILGs allowed to perform the enantioselective desymmetrization of the
cyclic anhydride 1 achieving good yields and, in the case of the gel medium, with good
enantiomeric excess. This is one of the first examples for the study of the selected reaction in IL
solution and to the best of our knowledge, it is the only one performed in a supramolecular ILG
phase.
All the reaction variables examined in this study appear to influence the reaction outcome. In
general, the reactivity increased on going from organic solvents, to ILs and, eventually, to gels. The
reaction seems driven by the hydrogen bond donor or accepting ability in ILs, while in the gel
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phase it is favoured by a more flexible network. Interestingly, opposite trends, in dependence of
the IL nature, were observed if the reaction was carried out in IL solution or in the corresponding
gel phase.
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The highest yield and ee values were achieved in the confined medium of ILG matrix, thus
underlining the importance of supramolecular interactions for the stereoselective outcome of the
process. In particular, the organized structure of the gel phase, acting as a cage-like nanoreactor,
plays a pivotal role in determining performance of the chiral catalysts both in terms of activity and
stereoselectivity.
Overall, the findings of this study encourage the application of supramolecular ILGs in the catalytic
field. ILGs can represent an evolution of ILs as new reaction media and, like ILs, can improve the
efficiency of synthetic organic processes.
Experimental section
58
[p-C12im][Edta]2 and the quinidine derivatives 459 and 377 were synthesized as previously
reported.
cis-1,2,3,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (1), 1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic anhydride (1d), cis-5-
Norbornene-endo-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride (1e), dry methanol, 1-octanol, benzyl alcohol,
trifluoroethanol, diethyl ether were analytical reagents purchased from commercial sources and
used as received.
ILs such as [bmim][BF4], [bmim][PF6], [bmim][NTf2], [bmpip][NTf2] and [bmpyrr][NTf2] were
purchased from commercial sources and used as received, while [bm2im][NTf2], [bmim][SbF6],
[bEt3N][NTf2] were prepared and purified according to the reported procedures.78 All ILs were
dried on high vacuum and stored in desiccator.
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Temperature control: reaction temperature was ensured using a Thermo Haake EK45 immersion
cooler with an open bath circulator, equipped with a water/ethylene glycol mixture bath.
Reaction time was determined after disappearance of the substrate on TLC plate.
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Reaction conditions in IL solutions
In a 4 mL screw-capped vial, the anhydride (16 mg, 0.1 mmol) was dissolved in 500 L of the
selected IL. After the obtainment of a clear solution, the proper alcohol was added to the mixture -
50 L (1.2 mmol, 12 equiv.) or 200 L (4.9 mmol, 48 equiv.) in case of MeOH. When required, also
5 or 2.5 mol % of organocatalyst were added to the reaction mixture, that was stirred for 24 h, at 4
°C or for 48 h, at -30 °C.
Then, the product was extracted from IL phase with diethyl ether monitoring through TLC the
disappearance of the product in diethyl ether solution. The diethyl ether was subsequently
removed with a rotary evaporator, and the reaction yield was determined after the purification of
the crude product by flash chromatography (SiO2, petroleum ether: AcOEt = 3:1). A viscous oil that
solidified on standing was obtained.
After dissolution in isopropanol (IPA, 1 mL), the enantiomeric composition of the sample was
determined by HPLC analysis (210 nm, Chiralpack AS-H, flow of 0.5 mL/min, eluent formed by n-
hexane: isopropanol = 70: 30 and 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid): tminor = 8.7 min; tmajor = 9.4 min, for
hemiester 2a.
Reaction conditions in gel phases
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Supramolecular gels of 5 wt % of gelator, [p-C12im]2[Edta], were prepared in a screw-capped vial
of 4 mL in a total amount of 500 mg of the desired IL. The mixture was heated at 90 °C in an oil
bath until a clear solution was obtained. Then the vial was stored at 4 °C overnight to give rise to
gel phase formation.
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The suitable amount of alcohol, catalyst and the anhydride, previously grounded, were cast on the
top of gel phase and the vial was stored at 4 or -30 °C for the reaction time. Then, the reaction
product was extracted from gel phase with diethyl ether monitoring through TLC the
disappearance of the product in diethyl ether solution. Finally, even for reactions in gel phase, the
same procedure described above was followed to obtain yield and enantiomeric excess.
NMR measurements
1H and 13C NMR spectra were recorded on a 300 MHz spectrometer. Chemical shifts were
reported relative to SiMe4.
Typical samples for NMR measurements in pure ILs were prepared using 500 mg of IL and adding
50 L or 200 L of MeOH, DMSO[d6] was used as internal standard and 64 scans were required to
record spectra.
To detect the NMR signals of all species involved in the reaction, kinetic measurements were
carried out in CDCl3 mimicking the real reaction media. In particular, 0.1 mmol of anhydride were
dissolved in 750 L of CDCl3, adding 50 mg of IL, 2.5 mol % of catalyst and 50 L of MeOH. NMR
spectra of IL in presence of anhydride and of catalyst in presence of MeOH in CDCl3 were studied
using the same amounts of reagents used for the kinetic experiment. All measurements required
at least 64 scans.
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Hemiesters obtained are known compounds and have been previously reported and
characterized.32,69
1H NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 2.42 (m, 2H), 2.57 (m, 2H), 3.10 (m, 2H), 3.72 (s, 3H),
5.70 (bs, 2H). 13C[1H]NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 25.5, 25.7, 39.5, 39.6, 51.9, 125.1,
125.2, 173.7, 179.4. HPLC analysis (210 nm, Chiralpack AS-H, flow of 0.5
mL/min, eluent formed by n-hexane: isopropanol = 70: 30 and 0.1%
trifluoroacetic acid): tminor = 8.7 min; tmajor = 9.4 min.
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1H NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 2.40 (m, 2H), 2.60 (m, 2H), 3.11 (m, 2H), 5.15 (dd,
J1= 15 Hz J2= 12 Hz, 2H), 5.69 (bs, 2H), 7.33 (m, 5H). 13C[1H]NMR, CDCl3 
(ppm): 25.6, 25.8, 39.4, 39.5, 66.4, 125.1, 125.2, 128.0, 128.1, 128.5,
135.8, 173.1, 178.9. HPLC analysis (210 nm, Chiralpack AS-H, flow of 0.3
mL/min, eluent formed by n-hexane: isopropanol = 80: 20 and 0.1%
trifluoroacetic acid): tminor = 20 min; tmajor = 22 min.
1H NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 2.41 (m, 2H), 2.60 (m, 2H), 3.13 (m, 2H), 4.47 (m,
2H), 5.70 (bs, 2H). 13C[1H]NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 25.4, 30.2, 39.2, 39.3, 60.3,
60.8, 124.7, 125.0, 165.9, 171.6. HPLC analysis (210 nm, Chiralpack AS-H,
flow of 0.3 mL/min, eluent formed by n-hexane: isopropanol = 80: 20 and
0.1% trifluoroacetic acid): tminor = 14.5 min; tmajor = 15.5 min.
1H NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 1.44 (m, 4 H); 1.76 (m, 2H), 2.02 (m, 2H), 2.85 (m, 2H),
3.68 (s, 3H). 13C[1H]NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 23.6, 23.8, 25.9, 26.3, 42.4, 42.5, 51.7,
174.1, 179.9. HPLC analysis (210 nm, Chiralpack AD-H, flow of 0.5 mL/min,
eluent formed by n-hexane: isopropanol = 80: 20 and 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid):
tminor = 10.6 min; tmajor = 11.5 min.
1H NMR, CDCl3  (ppm): 1.33 (d, J1 = 9 Hz, 1H); 1.48 (d, J1 = 9 Hz, 1H), 3.18 (d, J1
= 9 Hz, 2H), 3.31 (dd, J1 = 9 Hz, J2 = 3 Hz, 2H), 3.60 (s, 3H), 6.26 (m, 2H).
13C[1H]NMR, Acetone-d6  (ppm): 45.9, 46.4, 47.5, 47.6, 48.1, 50.4, 117.9,
122.2, 133.9, 135.3. HPLC analysis (210 nm, Chiralpack AD-H, flow of 0.3
mL/min, eluent formed by n-hexane: isopropanol = 80: 20 and 0.1%
trifluoroacetic acid): tminor = 19.2 min; tmajor = 21.4 min.
Supporting Information. Tables of ILs and gels properties, 1H NMR spectra for mechanistic studies,
hemiester spectra for product characterization and HPLC data.
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Acknowledgements
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We thank MIUR (FIRB 2010RBFR10BF5 V) and PJ_RIC_FFABR_2017_161917 for financial fundings.
We are really grateful to Prof. Renato Noto for his suggestions and advice.
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This paper is dedicated to Prof. Giuseppe Musumarra, in the occasion of his retirement, for the
significant contribution to the field of organic chemistry and in particular chemiometry, recently
also applied to the study of ionic liquids properties.
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