Efficient and reusable SBA-15-immobilized Brønsted acidic ionic liquid for the ketalization of cyclohexanone with glycol

Ketalization of cyclohexanone with glycol has been carried out using molecular sieve SBA-15 immobilized Brønsted acidic ionic liquid catalyst. The properties of the heterogeneous catalysts were characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry/differential scanning calorimetry (TG/DSC), and N2 adsorption–desorption (BET). The results suggested that Brønsted acidic ionic liquid [BSmim][HSO4] had been successfully immobilized on the surface of SBA-15 and the catalytic performance evaluation demonstrated that the catalyst BAIL@SBA-15 exhibited excellent catalytic activities in the ketalization of cyclohexanone with glycol. In addition, the effects of reaction temperature, catalyst loading, reaction time, and reactant molar ratio have also been investigated in detail, and a general reaction mechanism for the ketalization of cyclohexanone with glycol was given. The SBA-15 immobilized ionic liquid can be recovered easily and after reusing for 5 times in the ketalization reaction, the catalyst could still give satisfactory catalytic activity.