Alkylation of isobutane and 2-butene in inhibited chloroaluminate ionic liquids

The alkylation of isobutane/2-butene in ionic liquids with AlCl~-__4 and/or Al_2Cl~~-__7 anions have high activity but poor selectivity.Changing the cation or anion of ionic liquids themselves has little impact on the catalytic performance. Addition of certain metal chlorides in chloroaluminate ionic liquids makes the alkylation catalyst much more active and selective than present ionic liquids catalysts.Side reactions such as isomerization, disproportionation, hydrogen transfer, and cracking could be dramatically reduced.The [Et_3NH]Cl-1.8AlCl_3 ionic liquid with CuCl inhibitor is comparable to sulfuric acid in catalytic activity.C_8 isoparaffins fraction of inhibited ionic liquids alkylate could reach 95.8% and the ratio of trimethylpentanes (TMPs) to dimethylhexanes (DMHs) was more than 14.0.