1-(2-cyanoethyl)-3-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1H-imidazol-3-ium tetrafluoroborate (IL-2) in presence of PdCl 2 was found to be an efficient and reusable, ligand-free, base-free catalytic system for Heckcoupling of activated and deactivated iodo-and bromoarenes with different olefins. Under microwave irradiation, it exhibited good efficiency in terms of activity, selectivity and recyclability for six consecutive runs without significant loss of activity.