New Alkylation Route of Benzene with Ethylene Catalyzed by [bmim]Cl/FeCl_3 Ionic Liquid

摘要

Up to now the mechanism of Priedel-Crafts reactions catalyzed by ionic liquid have not been fully understood, while carbocation mechanism was assumed. It was found that the source of H~+ and the route of reaction initiated the alkylation of benzene with ethylene catalyzed by [bmim]Cl/FeCl_3 ionic liquid. The fact that dewatered ionic liquids have catalytic activity for the alkylation of benzene with ethylene suggests that there exists a new catalytic route. The distinctly Bronsted acid properties of 2-H in [bmim]Cl were found through FT-IR and HNMR analysis of [bmim]Cl after titration with water free KOH in alcohol solution. In addition, the chemical shifts of proton on the [bmim]Cl ring, especially 2-H, are sensitive to the change of FeCl_3 content and shifted downfield when FeCl_3 was added into [bmim]Cl to form ionic liquid. Thus 2-H was easy to be disengaged from imidazolium ring with formation of H~+ to initiate the reaction. The isotope-substituted method was employed to prove this mechanism, through the GC-MS analysis of alkylation products of deuterated benzene with ethylene. The route of alkylation catalyzed by FeCl_3 ionic liquid was found to follow the carbocation mechanism, the resource of H~+ was presented and proved using HNMR analysis of ionic liquid to inspect the intensity change of 2-H. It was found that the intensity of 2-H reduced 23% after reaction showing that the H~+ arising from alkylation reaction was supplied by 2-H on the imidazole ring.