Understanding the catalytic behavior of ionic liquids in tetralin alkylation with α-olefins through experiment and COSMO-RS model
Chen Chen, Xudong Zhang, Qiong Tang, Mingxing Tang, Xuekuan Li, Lei Liu, Jinxiang Dong
Abstract
Using coal-based feedstocks to produce chemicals is of importance for the high value-added utilization of coal and the reduction of petroleum consumption. Alkyltetralins similar to naphthenic oil were successfully obtained through tetralin alkylation with various olefins . Various ionic liquids (ILs) were applied to catalyze alkylations, and Et 3 NHCl-AlCl 3 IL exhibited high catalytic activity under mild reaction temperature (80 °C), the selectivity of multi-alkyltetralins higher than 70% could be achieved at >99% tetralin conversion. Such catalyst was shown to be robust in the presence of trace water and oxygenated chemicals. COSMO-RS model was applied to predict the mutual solubility and interaction of tetralin, olefins and alkyltetralins in ILs. The experimental and calculated results demonstrated that the favorable interactions of shorter-chain olefins and ILs benefited to produce multi-alkyltetralins, and the low mutual solubility of reactants and products in ILs was helpful to the rapid separation of products in the system.