“Zero VOC” Synthetic Strategy – Aromatic Amination Reactions in Deep Eutectic Solvents

Rising concern for environment hazards resulting from the use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is prompting many chemists to use “green” solvents like water, polyethylene glycol, ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents (DES). With a few notable exceptions, many of these processes still need to use volatile organic solvents for the workup and isolation of products. In the present report, we demonstrate a “zero VOC” protocol which eliminates the need to use organic solvents for any stage of the reaction. As a proof of concept, nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions of 1‐halo‐2,4‐dinitrobenzene with secondary amines were carried out in deep eutectic solvents. The reaction workup involved the addition of water for separating the product from the DES. Evaporation of water led to recovery of the DES, which exhibited good recyclability. The reaction in deep eutectic solvents was much faster than that in many other solvents, as confirmed by the kinetic studies. An attempt was made to elucidate the origin of this rate enhancement based on analysis activation parameters and correlation with the polarity parameters. The results show that use of deep eutectic solvents can take chemists a step closer towards the “zero VOC” synthetic strategy.