Development of a microwave-assisted sustainable conversion of furfural hydrazones to functionalised phthalimides in ionic liquids.

A sustainable synthetic procedure to convert furfural hydrazones into functionalised phthalimides was developed. The reaction was performed in a microwave using a hydrophilic ionic liquid, [bmim][Cl], as the solvent which could be readily recovered by a simple extraction. The ionic liquid was successfully recycled with no significant loss in product yields.