Ionicliquids were prepared via hydrothermal decarboxylation of zwitterionic imidazolium compounds derived from amino acids and carbohydrate related dicarbonyl compounds. Two of these ionicliquids were used successfully as solvents in the Heckreaction and for the dissolution of cellulose.
Make it green: An efficient one‐pot procedure for the synthesis of homosubstituted imidazolium compounds on the basis of renewable precursors is reported. By starting from amino acids and pyruvaldehyde, a library of bifunctional imidazolium scaffolds for the construction of polymers and ionic liquids was prepared (see scheme).