Ricerc@Sapienza

We explore the structure of a series of protic Ionic Liquids based on the choline cation and amino acid anions. In the series, the length and the branching of the amino acid alkyl chain varies. Ab initio molecular dynamics, X-ray diffraction measurements, and infrared spectra have been used to provide a reliable picture of the short-range structure and of the short-time dynamic process that characterize the fluids. We have put special emphasis on the peculiar and complicated network of hydrogen bonds that stem from the amphoteric nature of the anion moiety.

An innovative approach aimed at disclosing the mechanism of chemical
reactions occurring in solution on the millisecond time scale is presented. Time-resolved
energy dispersive X-ray absorption and UV/vis spectroscopies with millisecond resolution
are used simultaneously to directly follow the evolution of both the oxidation state and the
local structure of the metal center in an iron complex. Two redox reactions are studied, the
former involving the transformation of FeII into two subsequent FeIII species and the latter

An imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine derivative was unexpectedly obtained through the action of Fe2+ on a dynamic library of imines generated in situ via condensation of benzaldehyde and 2-picolylamine. The reaction product was easily isolated as the only nitrogen-containing product eluted from the chromatographic column. A reaction mechanism is proposed, in which combined kinetic and thermodynamic effects exerted by Fe2+ on the various steps of the complex reaction sequence are discussed.