Water: A benign solvent for the synthesis of various organic moieties

Abstract

Water is the nature's solvent and all biological syntheses are being carried in aqueous medium. It is an essential element of life on our planet. Water possesses unique structural form, which bestows distinguished physical and chemical properties. It exhibits powerful hydrogen bonding, large dielectric constant, high heat capacity, as well as a broad temperature range to remain in liquid state. In view of the advantages derived by the utilization of water as a solvent medium, there is an increasing trend in performing organic synthesis in water. Apart from being eco-friendly, water also has the potentiality to become a universally acceptable solvent due to its abundance and low cost. However, several reactions are employing organic cosolvents to increase the solubility of organic compounds in water. Introduction of polar functional groups on reactant molecules to enhance water solubility is another manipulation. Moreover, organic reactions in aqueous medium can also be conducted in either heterogeneous or homogeneous phase in which volume of water may differ from moderate to large quantity.