Gas Phase Conversion of Carbon Tetrachloride to Alkyl Chlorides Catalyzed by Supported Ionic Liquids

An efficient way of converting carbon tetrachloride (CTC) to alkyl chlorides is reported, which uses the catalysts of ionic liquids supported on granular active carbon. The catalytic performance was evaluated in a temperature range of 120–200°C and atmospheric pressure for different ionic liquids, namely 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride, 1‐octyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride, hydrochloric salts of N‐methylimidazole (MIm), pyridine and triethylamine, as well as bisulfate and dihydric phosphate of N‐methylimidazole. On this basis, the reaction mechanism was proposed, and the influences of the reaction temperature and the attributes of ionic liquids were discussed. The overall reaction was assumed to be comprised of two steps, the hydrolysis of CTC and reaction of HCl with alcohols under acidic catalyst. The results indicate that the conversion of CTC increased monotonically with temperature and even approached 100% at 200°C, while the maximum selectivity to alkyl chlorides was obtained around 160°C. This reaction might be potentially applicable to the resource utilization of superfluous byproduct of CTC in the chloromethane industry.