Task-specific ionic liquid as base, ligand and reaction medium for the palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction

A novel ionic liquid, which was based on ethanolamine-functionalized quaternary ammonium salt was designed and synthesized. 4-Di(hydroxyethyl)aminobutyl tributylammonium bromide (DHEABTBAB) 1, a task-specific ionic liquid, which acts as a base, ligand and reaction medium, exhibits a very high activity and recyclability to palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction. The olefinations of iodoarenes, bromoarenes and chloroarenes with olefins generated the corresponding cross-coupling products in good to excellent yields only in the presence of DHEABTBAB and palladium acetate under phosphine-free reaction conditions. It is noteworthy that palladium and DHEABTBAB could be repeatedly recycled and reused for six consecutive trials without significant loss of their activities. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.