Synthesis of butyl-octyl-diphenylamine as lubricant antioxidant additive by ionic liquids

Ionic liquid used in Friedel-Crafts reaction catalytic of dialkyl diphenylamine is a green environmental method. In this paper, butyl-octyl-diphenylamine (BODPA) was synthesized by the series of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloroaluminate (BMIM-AlCl 3 ) ionic liquids catalysts. Pressure differential scanning calorimetry (PDSC) was used to test antioxidant properties of BODPA in lubricating oil. The influences of various reaction parameters such as dosage of catalysts, molar ratio of diphenylamine to chloralkane, reaction temperature, and time on the alkylation catalyzed by BMIM-AlCl 3 have been studied. The molecular structure and content of alkyl diphenylamine were also characterized by FT-IR/GC-MS.