Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2011, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (3): 440-445.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(10)60178-7

• Research papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Alkyl Sulfonate Functionalized Ionic Liquids: Synthesis, Properties, and Their Application in Esterification

ZHAO Yingwei1,2, LI Zhen1,*, XIA Chungu1,*   

  1. 1State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China; 2Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2010-09-29 Revised:2010-12-13 Online:2011-03-04 Published:2014-08-01

Abstract: Ionic liquids based on alkyl sulfate anions and alkyl sulfonate functionalized cations were prepared from commercially available and cheap materials and their thermal-instability properties were studied in detail. These ionic liquids were active catalysts for esterification and they gave moderate to high yields. The catalytic performance was found to be much better than that of conventional non-cation functionalized ionic liquids and close to sulfonic acid functionalized ionic liquids. The catalytic process in this reaction was investigated by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and a plausible reaction mechanism is suggested.

Key words: ionic liquid, alkylsulfonate, esterification