A highly fluorous room-temperature ionic liquid exhibiting fluorous biphasic behavior and its use in catalyst recycling.

[formula: see text] A novel fluorous room-temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrakis[p-[dimethyl(1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyl)silyl]phenyl]-borate (1), was used as a solvent for the homogeneous hydrosilylation of 1-octene catalyzed by a fluorous version of Wilkinson's catalyst. The catalyst was recycled by biphasic separation with an average retention of catalyst activity of 94%. As opposed to other ionic liquids, 1 exhibits high miscibility with apolar compounds such as alkenes and resembles fluorous solvents in its phase behavior with organic solvents.