Transesterification of Methyl Acetate with n -Butanol Catalyzed by Single and Mixed Ionic Liquids

Several acidic ionic liquids (ILs) with different cations and anions were used as catalysts in the transesterification of methyl acetate with n -butanol. The IL [omim][PF 6 ] can enhance the catalytic activity of the partially soluble IL catalyst. The kinetics for the transesterification using the catalysts [HSO 3 bmim][p-TS] and [HSO 3 bmim][OTF] were measured. The ideal homogeneous model and the nonideal homogeneous (NIH) model were used to correlate the kinetic data. The NIH model was more reliable to describe the reaction rate. Graphical Abstract