Can the absence of solvation of neutral reagents by ionic liquids be responsible for the high reactivity in base-assisted intramolecular nucleophilic substitutions in these solvent?

The kinetics of the rearrangement of the Z-phenylhydrazoneof 3-benzoyl-5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole (1a) into the relevant4-benzoylamino-2,5-diphenyl-1,2,3-triazole (2a) induced byamines have been studied in two room-temperature ionicliquids (IL-1, [BMIM][BF4] and IL-2, [BMIM][PF6]). Thedata collected show that the reaction occurs faster in ionicliquids than in other conventional solvents previouslystudied (both polar or apolar, protic or aprotic). Presumably,this could depend on their peculiar ability to minimize thestrong substrate-solvent, amine-solvent and amine-amineinteractions occurring in conventional solvents.