Deep Eutectic Solvents as sustainable media for organic transformations

In the last few years, the development of new sustainable synthetic methods is oriented toward new pathways that include the employment of environmental friendly solvents, such as the Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs). Deep Eutectic Solvents represent an innovative class of solvents related to the category of ionic liquids and they are a eutectic mixture of a hydrogen bond donor and a hydrogen bond acceptor. Thanks to their composition and features, DESs are employed in a variety of chemical transformations not only as “innocent” solvents but also as “active” participants in the reaction. Herein, we report our recent results in the development of multicomponent reactions and intra- and intermolecular cyclization approaches promoted by the presence of DESs (fig 1). In particular, we will disclose the A3 coupling reaction and a couple of cyclization reactions involving arylalkynes with a reactive group in the ortho position promoted by carefully selected DES as “active” solvents.