Revealing the roles of hydrogen bond and Al2Cl7− anion species and kinetics for ionic liquid catalyzed transesterification of ethylene carbonate with methanol

•The hydrogen bond interaction between cation and methanol was revealed.•The role of anion species in catalytic activity and their relationship was identified.•The steric hindrance effect of substituted group on catalytic activity was demonstrated.•The kinetic informatics of whole reaction networks were provided in detail.