Functionalized chiral ionic liquids: a new type of asymmetric organocatalysts and nonclassical chiral ligands.

By judiciously anchoring functional groups onto chiral ionic liquids, functionalized chiral ionic liquids (FCILs) are emerging as a new type of asymmetric organocatalysts and nonclassical chiral ligands. This Focus Review highlights the applications of FCILs from the viewpoint of asymmetric catalysis. We focus mainly on the de novo designed and synthesized FCILs which likely still maintain the typical ionic liquids properties, and in a few cases relevant ionic liquid immobilized chiral catalysts are briefly discussed.