Supercritical CO₂/ionic liquids systems

The ionic liquids/sc-CO₂ system were introduced in this article. Ionic liquids and sc-CO₂ have been paid much attention due to their unique properties and environmental benignity. The combination of them has given out many new merits on reactions and separations. Supercritical CO₂ is very soluble in ionic liquids, and can extract the non-volatile products from ionic liquids. Since the ionic liquids and the catalysts dissolved in ionic liquids are insoluble in the sc-CO₂ phase, their loss in the process can be eliminated. Therefore, the ionic liquids/sc-CO₂ system could be used for environmental benign processes with good reaction-separation performance.