CHAPTER 12: Ionic Liquids and Deep Eutectic Solvents

Ionic Liquids (ILs) and Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) are two classes of non-conventional solvents that share some common features and often find application in similar research areas. Possibly the most prominent similarity of these two classes of solvents is the possibility to tailor their properties to best fit the requirements of an application of interest. This task can easily be accomplished by changing either the pairing ions for ILs or the constituting partners for DESs. In this chapter, ILs and DESs will be treated separately, while following the same narrative, namely an introductory overview of their structures and properties, a discussion of selected cases concerning their employment in organic reactions, and a final analysis of the challenges that still need to be addressed.