ABSTRACT
Democratization of the use of ionic liquids (ILs), not only as solvents, but as actual catalysts and greener alternatives for organic synthesis has experienced a consistent growth over the past decade. Moreover, from the fusion of the concepts of asymmetric counteranion-directed catalysis and ionic liquids emerged the idea of using the anion of an ionic liquid in asymmetric organocatalysis. With regards to this idea, this chapter focuses on the use of the anion of ILs as catalysts for asymmetric organocatalysis. The concept is still in its early years, but the examples presented here, show that “anionic ILs catalysts” can provide a new strategy to achieve stereocontrol in organocatalysis by their unique mode of action.
