Polyoxometalates [
26–
33], as a class of multinuclear pre-transition metal-oxygen clusters with unparalleled structural diversity and outstanding physicochemical properties have been widely used in the field of catalytic oxidation [
34–
47], especially for the catalyzed esterification due to their metal ions in the highest valence states being able to act as electron storage containers. Yet, Keggin-type and transition metal-substituted single-lacunary polyoxometalate derivatives are by far the predominant polyoxometalate-based esterification catalysts accompanied by disadvantages such as high temperature, poor substrate applicability and atomic diseconomy (
Scheme 1b) [
48–
56]. The combination of vanadium catalysts and H
2O
2 for the oxidative esterification of aldehydes has been developed for many years. However, the unrecyclability of catalysts and the use of large quantities of strong acid reagents [
57], complex catalyst synthesis steps and poor substrate universality [
58] limited its application. Meanwhile, imidazole ionic liquids are rapidly gaining in popularity in the field of organic catalysis with the advantages of high boiling point, non-volatile and excellent stability [
59] in recent years. Forming
N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) under basic conditions is a crucial factor to induce aldehydes to undergo polarity reversal and thus the intermediates were capable of nucleophilic substitution reactions [
60–
68]. However, difficulty to recover and reuse in catalytic systems restrict their practical applications. Thus, a novel catalytic system combines polyoxometalates with imidazole ionic liquids which is expected to improve their respective catalytic performance and enhance the recyclability of the catalyst was developed. Herein, six POV-based molecular crystals {(C
8H
15N
2)
2[V
6O
13{(OCH
2)
3CCH
2OH}
2] (
1, CCDC: 2131494), (C
10H
19N
2)
2[V
6O
13{(OCH
2)
3CCH
2OH}
2] (
2, CCDC: 2118473), (C
11H
13N
2)
2[V
6O
13{(OCH
2)
3CCH
2OH}
2] (
3, CCDC: 2,118,470), (C
11H
21N
2)
2[V
6O
13{(OCH
2)
3CCH
2OH}
2]
.2DMF (
4, CCDC: 2130958), (C
17H
17N
2)
2[V
6O
13{(OCH
2)
3CCH
2OH}
2]
.2ether
.4/3DMF (
5, CCDC: 2118471), (C
7H
9O
4N
2)
2[V
6O
13{(OCH
2)
3CCH
2OH}
2]
.4DMF (
6, CCDC: 2118474)} have been successfully synthesized in this work, which can efficiently catalyze the esterification of aldehydes and alcohols using 30% H
2O
2 as the sole oxidant with advantages of mild condition, retrievability, rich substrate applicability, environmental friendly, synthetically cheap, noble-metal free and prospects for industrial applications (
Scheme 1c). These six catalysts were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction,
1H NMR and FT-IR, respectively. Interactions between imidazole ionic and POVs were also investigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction while proposed mechanism for the POV-Based Ionic Liquid-catalyzed esterification of aldehydes with alcohols was investigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction, control experiments, EPR and cyclic voltammetry studies.