Abstract:

Cyanophyll was prepared from the reaction of acetal with benzyl alcohol in the presence of sulfonic acidic ionic liquid 1-(4-sulfonic group)-butyl-3-methylimidazole tetrafluoroborate([4-sulfbmim][BF₄]) as acidic catalyst. At reaction temperature 20 ℃, the reaction conditions were optimized by orthogonal experiments as follows, molar ratio of benzyl alcohol and acetal is 1 to 8, reaction time 60 min, amount of catalyst 4 g based on benzyl alcohol. The yield of cyanophyll could be 92.2%. The acidic ionic liquid [4-sulfbmim][BF₄] had better catalytic effect compared with H₂SO₄ even if it is a little weaker in activity, and it could be reused for 6 times without losing of the catalytic activity.

Key words: acidic functional ionic liquid, cyanophyll, acetaldehyde ethyl benzyl acetal, catalyst