Aluminium chloride based ionic liquid

The ability of iron(III) chloride genuinely to catalyze Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions has also been recognized by Holderich and co-workers [97]. By immobilizing the ionic liquid [BMIM]Cl/FeCl3 on a solid support, Holderich was able to acetylate mesitylene, anisole, and m-xylene with acetyl chloride in excellent yield. The performance of the iron-based ionic liquid was then compared with that of the corresponding chlorostannate(II) and chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids. The results are given in Scheme 5.1-67 and Table 5.1-5. As can be seen, the iron catalyst gave superior results to the aluminium- or tin-based catalysts. The reactions were also carried out in the gas phase at between 200 and 300 °C. The acetylation reac-... 

Ionic liquids (ILs), previously known as molten salts, were mainly used in electrochemistry studies due to their ionic nature. The most important step in the chemistry of the ILs occurred when Osteryoung described a mixture of 1-(1-butylpyridinium)-chloride and aluminium chloride which was liquid at room temperature30. Later on, Wilkes discovered other ionic liquids based on dialkylimidazolium salts that featured even more convenient physical and electrochemical properties than the butylpyridinium salts3i. 

A similar catalytic dimerization system has been investigated [40] in a continuous flow loop reactor in order to study the stability of the ionic liquid solution. The catalyst used is the organometallic nickel(II) complex (Hcod)Ni(hfacac) (Hcod = cyclooct-4-ene-l-yl and hfacac = l,l,l,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionato-0,0 ), and the ionic liquid is an acidic chloroaluminate based on the acidic mixture of 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium chloride and aluminium chloride. No alkylaluminium is added, but an organic Lewis base is added to buffer the acidity of the medium. The ionic catalyst solution is introduced into the reactor loop at the beginning of the reaction and the loop is filled with the reactants (total volume 160 mL). The feed enters continuously into the loop and the products are continuously separated in a settler. The overall activity is 18,000 (TON). The selectivity to dimers is in the 98 % range and the selectivity to linear octenes is 52 %. 

Abstract The term Lewis acid catalysts generally refers to metal salts like aluminium chloride, titanium chloride and zinc chloride. Their application in asymmetric catalysis can be achieved by the addition of enantiopure ligands to these salts. However, not only metal centers can function as Lewis acids. Compounds containing carbenium, silyl or phosphonium cations display Lewis acid catalytic activity. In addition, hypervalent compounds based on phosphorus and silicon, inherit Lewis acidity. Furthermore, ionic liquids, organic salts with a melting point below 100 °C, have revealed the ability to catalyze a range of reactions either in substoichiometric amount or, if used as the reaction medium, in stoichiometric or even larger quantities. The ionic liquids can often be efficiently recovered. The catalytic activity of the ionic liquid is explained by the Lewis acidic nature of then-cations. This review covers the survey of known classes of metal-free Lewis acids and their application in catalysis. 

In the present studies, aluminium coatings were electroplated from commercially available ionic liquids (provided by BASF) based on EMImCl-aluminium chloride (AICI3) at a molar ratio of 40 60. 

Ionic liquids based on chloroaluminates (the most common form of Lewis acidic or basic ionic liquids) are formed by reacting a quaternary ammonium chloride salt [QAm]" with aluminium chloride (AICI3) in various ratios [94]. Common examples are l-ethyl-3-methyl imidazoUum chloride ([EMIm]Cl) and l-(l-butyl)pyridinium chloride ([BuPy]Cl) [95]. A Lewis base, neutral species or acid is formed by varying the ratio of the two components of the ionic liquid. Using the letter N to represent the mole fraction of AICI3 in the melt [96], the following classification is given for these ionic liquids ... 

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