A continuous flow process for the green and sustainable production of N-alkyl imidazoles

N-alkyl imidazoles are the basic components of the widely used and studied imidazolium ionic liquids. The need for these materials multiplied since the field of ionic liquids has been gaining more and more importance. Our aim was to develop a continuous flow method for the N-alkylation of imidazole that provides the alkylated derivatives with high productivity and selectivity, using only cheap, preferably green starting materials. Herein, we report a novel method for the preparation of N-alkyl imidazoles over a zeolite catalyst using high temperature and pressure in a heterogeneous catalytic flow reactor. The yield and selectivity exceeded 95% for n-chain alcohols while the residence time was kept at 13 min, thus, the productivities were between 9 g/h and 14 g/h. The only side product in the reaction is water, thus, the process expresses high atom economy.