A Sulfone-Containing Imidazolium-Based Brønsted Acid Ionic Liquid Catalyst Enables Replacing Dipolar Aprotic Solvents with Butyl Acetate

Replacing dipolar and aprotic solvents with environmentally benign media has emerged as a new facet of green chemistry. In this paper, a sulfone-containing imidazolium-based Brønsted acid ionic liquid was prepared and used as a recyclable acid catalyst. The ionic liquid catalyst enables the use of an industrially acceptable and environmentally benign solvent, butyl acetate, as the reaction medium. The ionic liquid/butyl acetate biphasic system was successfully utilized in many organic reactions, which generally relied heavily on dipolar and aprotic solvents. (Figure presented.).