Synthesis of PNA in non conventional media

The growing awareness of the urgent need for greener, more sustainable technologies has focused the scientific attention on the use of alternative reaction media that circumvent the problems associated with the traditional volatile organic solvents (VOCs). The use of non conventional reaction media also provides opportunities to facilitate the recovery and the recycling of the reaction solvent. Among the most promising alternatives to classical organic solvents, ionic liquids (ILs) have been intensely studied in the recent years as potential environmentally benign reaction media due to their lack of measurable vapour pressure and high thermal and chemical stability. Recently, room temperature Ionic liquids (RTILs) have been used as solvents in the preparation of several classes of biomolecules such as oligosaccharides and peptides. In this communication we report a preliminary study on the use of ILs as solvents in the preparation of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs). The optimization of the reaction conditions, as well as the recycling of the ILs and the use of microwave will be discussed.