This work reports on the use of the amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs) which have been used as catalysts in Knoevenagel condensation of various aldehydes with malononitrile. For research we use tetrabutylammonium ionic liquids based on eight natural amino acids. The reaction was carried out in an aqueous medium. Using water as solvent provided efficient and simple method of isolation of pure product with high yield. Moreover, amino acid ionic liquid dissolved in water could be reused many times without any loss of its catalytic activity. The influence of the anion was studied. Moreover the effect of technological parameters such as: the temperature, the catalyst content, and the reaction time on yield of reaction were investigated.

In the face of increasing global carbon dioxide emissions and the urgent need to mitigate climate change, the development of efficient and sustainable strategies for CO₂ conversion has gained significant attention. One of the methods of eliminating the harmful effects of CO₂ is its photoreduction. In this paper, ZnO was used as an effective photocatalyst for the photoreduction of CO₂ in a gas-phase system. The influence of particle size on the process efficiency was investigated. The ZnO materials applied in the studies were characterized using XRD, SEM, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption (BET) methods. The pore volume distribution was calculated based on the DFT method. The investigation confirmed that it had a significant impact on the formation of the product of photocatalysis carbon dioxide. The main identified product was carbon monoxide. Hydrogen and methane were detected as well. Based on the results, it was found that the process efficiency was enhanced with decreasing ZnO particle size, and the most effective catalyst for the photoreduction of CO₂ was the ZnO sample with the smallest particle size (18 nm).

New chiral protic imidazolium salts containing a (1R,2S,5R)-(−)-menthol substituent in the cation and four different anions (chloride, hexafluorophosphate, trifluoromethanesulfonate and bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) were efficiently prepared and extensively characterized. Detailed NMR analysis was performed, and a comparison of the chemical shifts of the protons and carbons of the imidazolium cation as a function of the combined anion was discussed. The specific rotation, solubility in commonly used solvents, thermal properties including phase transition temperatures, and thermal stability were also determined. Three of the synthesized tertiary salts (Cl, PF₆ or OTf anion) were crystalline solids; 1-H-3-[(1R,2S,5R)-(−)-menthoxymethyl]-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, (−)[H-Ment-Im][NTf₂] was a liquid at room temperature. The chiral protic salts were used in a Diels–Alder reaction as a test reaction, and the results were compared with those from aprotic chiral ionic liquids having the same chiral substituent in the cation (1R,2S,5R)-(−)-menthol with a bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion. Both protic and aprotic chiral salts, used in a Diels–Alder reaction, were pure (−)-enantiomers, which was determined by NMR with Δ-TRISPHAT tetrabutylammonium salt as a chiral shift reagent. Protic salts offered distinctly higher endo/exo ratios than aprotic ones, but an enantiomeric excess was not obtained. The stereoselectivity reached the same high level even after the fourth recycle of (−)[H-Ment-Im][NTf₂] in the reaction of ethyl-vinyl ketone with cyclopentadiene at temperature of −35 °C.

A new photocatalyst for CO₂ reduction has been presented. The photocatalyst was prepared from a combination of a commercial P25 with a mesopore structure and carbon spheres with a microporous structure with high CO₂ adsorption capacity. Then, the obtained hybrid TiO₂-carbon sphere photocatalysts were deposited on a glass fiber fabric. The combined TiO₂-carbon spheres/silica cloth photocatalysts showed higher efficiency in the two-electron CO₂ reduction towards CO than in the eight-electron reaction to methane. The 0.5 g graphitic carbon spheres combined with 1 g of TiO₂ P25 resulted in almost 100% selectivity to CO. From a practical point of view, this is promising as it economically eliminates the need to separate CO from the gas mixture after the reaction, which also contains CH₄ and H₂.