Diphenyhnethane synthesis using ionic liquids as Lewis acid catalyst

Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene with benzyl chloride was studied by using organochloroaluminate ionic liquids as Lewis acid catalyst. The reaction was performed in the temperature range of 40 to 70 degreesC at benzene/benzyl chloride = 17, where selectivity to diphenyhnediane was high. The optimum AlCl3/BMIC ratio of the ionic liquid for the benzylation reaction was 2. Superior performance was obtained with butyl group constituting the cationic species of the ionic liquid. Stirring speed had a major impact on catalytic activity of the BMIC-AlCl3 ionic liquid; benzyl chloride conversion decreased substantially from 98 to 68% as stirring speed was reduced from 900 to 500 rpm, and eventually no reaction took place at 200 rpm. BMIC-AlCl3 ionic liquid was more active than Fe-MCM-41 at the expense of a small drop in selectivity but still higher than 96% selectivity was obtained. The ionic liquid could be easily recovered after phase separation. The performance of BMIC-AlCl3 ionic liquid was maintained after the second run with 97.4% conversion and 95.6% selectivity, but a sudden drop in activity was observed after the third run with only 26.8% conversion.