Ionic green solvents from renewable resources

Nature provides a vast new vista of opportunities for the preparation of new recyclable solvents. Natural compounds have been recently used to prepare the cationic or anionic moiety of room-temperature ionic liquids. In many cases, these new solvents, based on modifications of natural products, contain chiral centres and/or specific functional groups. This paper is an overview in an area of research that is destined for rapid development and expansion. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)