Ionic liquid–based colloidal nanoparticles: applications in organic synthesis

Abstract Ionic liquids (ILs) are low-melting organic salts, which are neoteric solvents that have found applications in diverse areas of chemical synthesis. They have the potential to replace traditional solvents in a variety of reactions owing to their nonvolatile nature and thermal stability, an added advantage is the fact that they are recyclable and can be reused. ILs are truly “designer liquids,” where they can be easily custom made or specifically tailored to meet special needs. ILs have been shown to successfully replace organic solvents in a variety of organic and inorganic syntheses reactions; however, that is not the only role for ILs, interestingly ILs proved to be much more versatile, and are able to provide a suitable medium for the synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) and colloidal solutions. When ILs are used as dispersing media for NP synthesis, there is often no need for any other stabilizing or capping agent, often ILs themselves can act as reducing agents for metal NP synthesis. The delicate interplay of a number of intermolecular forces, such as van der Waals, electrostatic, and hydrogen bonding along with other solvent related effects often results in interesting self-assembled nanostructures that have electrochemical, optoelectronic, and catalytic applications. This book chapter provides a detailed account of different ILs used for the synthesis of NPs and nanocolloids and discusses their applications.