A brief review of the work carried out at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences for development of ionic liquid as green reaction media and catalysts is presented. This includes the processes of ionic liquid to be used as catalyst, reaction media, development of functional ionic liquid and methods for synthesis of immobilized ionic liquid. In the end, some prospects for development of ionic liquid are also addressed.

★★★☆☆ KEY WORDS: catalysis; green chemistry; ionic liquid; reaction media; review.

★★★☆☆ F. Shi et al./ Catalysis Surveys from Asia, 2004, 8(3): 179-186.