Poly(ionic liquid) Core Turns Hollow Silica Spheres\ninto Amphiphilic Nanoreactor in Water

Abstract

The stressing environmental concerns\npush us to move traditional\norganic reactions toward an eco-friendly way. Replacing organic solvents\nby water seems to be a promising solution yet is very challenging.\nThe main obstacle is the poor solubility of many hydrophobic substrates\nin water, leading to a restricted accessibility, thus inevitably ending\nup with low reaction rates. To overcome this problem, we propose a\nhybrid micelle-like hydrophobic@​hydrophilic nanoreactor formed\nby a poly­(ionic liquid) (PIL) core and a mesoporous silica shell.\nThis nanoreactor exhibited high activity (TOF up to 414 h^–1, 12.9 times of that for a corresponding silica catalyst) and selectivity\n(100%) in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde using water\nas solvent.