Kemp elimination: a probe reaction to study ionic liquids properties

The amino induced elimination of benzisoxazole into the relevant o-cyanophenolate ion (Kemp elimination) has been studied in [bmim][BF4] solution at 298 K. To have information about the interactions between reactants and ionic liquid, the reaction has been carried out at different temperatures (293–313 K). Several primary, secondary, and tertiary amines have been used to study the effect of amine structure on the reaction rate. The collected data show that the amine structure seems to have a crucial role in determining the reaction rate. Furthermore, as different cation or anion structures of an ionic liquid can significantly affect its properties, the title reaction has been performed in four different ionic liquids ([bmim][PF6], [bmim][NTf2], [bm2im][NTf2], and [bmpyrr][NTf2]), using pyrrolidine and piperidine as model amines. An H-donor negative solvent (MeOH and [bmim][NTf2]) effect on reaction rate was detected. Finally, a narrow range of activation parameters was calculated both for the reaction induced by different amines and for pyrrolidine and piperidine, in the presence of different ILs. This fact suggests the occurrence of an “early” transition state.