Chiral ionic liquids

Chiral ionic liquids of the general formula

• [A]n+[Y]n−,
• wherein n=1 or 2,
• the anion [Y]n− is the anion of an organic or inorganic proton acid and the cation [A]+ is an optically active organic ammonium cation with up to 50 carbon atoms and at least one chirality center and at least one functional group selected from the group comprising alcohol (OH), ether (OR), thiol (SH), thioether (SR), nitrile (CN), carboxylic acid- (COOH), carboxylic acid ester (COOR), phosphane (PR2), ketone (COR), aldehyde (CHO), nitro (NO2), azide (N3), phenyl, fluoride or chloride, wherein R is selected from the group consisting of
• hydrogen;
• linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic or alicyclic alkyl groups with 1 to 30 carbon atoms, whereby the linear or branched aliphatic alkyl groups may be substituted by a hydroxyl or thiol group;
• heteroaryl-, heteroaryl-C1-C6-alkyl groups with 3 to 8 carbon atoms in the heteroaryl radical and at least one heteroatom selected from N, O and S, which may be substituted by at least one group selected from C1-C6 alkyl groups and halogen atoms;
• aryl, aryl C1-C6 alkyl groups with 5 to 12 carbon atoms in the aryl radical, which may be substituted optionally by at least one C1-C6 alkyl group and one halogen atoms, and
• silyl groups of the general formula —SiR6R7R8, whereby R6, R7 and R8 are selected independently of one another from the group consisting of C1-C6 alkyl and C5-C12 aryl
• wherein said functional group produces a coordination by forming hydrogen bridges or providing free electron pairs and said at least one chirality center has a distance of up to 5 atomic bonds from said functional group.