reaction mixture was transferred to a teflon flask and treated hydrothermally in an autoclave without the prior refluxing the reaction mixture directly after the addition was treated hydrothermally in the autoclave the reaction mixture was heated to 220 u00b0 c with a heating rate of 4 4 k min the entire hydrothermal treatment was carried out for 2 75 or 12 hours the sample was cooled to room temperature in the autoclave the solids formed were removed by centrifuging the products were washed five times with ethanol and freeze dried with water as solvent following isolation of the particles and distillative removal of the volatile constituents ethanol the ionic liquids used can be re used for other alcohols as reported in table 2 for example an analogous procedure was performed the reaction conditions of the samples are summarized in table 4 2 84 g of ti o i pr 4 10 mmol were added dropwise with stirring to a solution of bmim cl 20 mmol 3 49 g in ethanol 11 4 g lt 0 1 water in an open flask after an hour of stirring at room temperature a cloudy solution was obtained the temperature was increased to the reflux temperature and a clear solution was formed the sample was stirred further for 4 hours more and the volatile constituents were removed by distillation the solution which remained was dissolved in ch 3 cn and etoac 1 1 under reflux and was filtered through a paper filter this solution mother liquor was stored at room.