Pathway to Vinyl Chloride Production via Dehydrochlorination of 1,2-Dichloroethane in Ionic Liquid Media

We present a novel approach to the dehydrochlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane using ionic liquid catalysts. After screening a wide range of ionic liquids, tetraalkylphosphonium chlorides show the best results, with much higher conversions compared with those of the current industrial pyrolysis process. This breakthrough approach has the remarkable advantage of operating at lower temperature while maintaining an excellent selectivity. This method shows high potential as a greener alternative for the current industrial process.