Moisture Stable Ambient Temperature Ionic Liquids: Solvents for the New Millennium. 1. The Heck Reaction

In this paper we report examples of the Heck reaction in the new moisture stable ambient temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim]PF6). We have found that the yield of product is comparable with Heck reactions carried out in DMF, the conventional solvent for this reaction, and that the ionic liquid/catalyst mixture can be recycled several times.