Five ether-functionalized ionic liquids(ILs)

containing[Me(OEt)1-MOR-C3SO3H][MeSO3]

[Me(OEt)2-MOR-C3SO3H][MeSO3]

[Me(OEt)3-MOR-C3SO3H][MeSO3]

[2(C3SO3H-MOR)-(OEt)200][2MeSO3]and[2(C3SO3H-MOR)-(OEt)400][2MeSO3] were synthesized and characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.The ionic liquid viscosity

solubility and corrosion were investigated.The promotion effect of ether-functionalized ILs in esterification of acetic acid with butyl alcohol was investigated and the reaction process was optimized using response surface analysis.The yield of n-butyl acetate was up to 97.8% under the optimized conditions:response surface analysis(RSA) of n(CH3COOH):n(C4H9OH)=1.2:1

the mass of catalyst[2(C3SO3H-MOR)-(OEt)400][2MeSO3]was 5% of the quality of butyl alcohol

the mass of water carrying agent was 30% of the quality of butyl alcohol

temperature was 90℃

and reaction time was 5 h.The catalysts could be recycled for 8 times without obviously decline of catalytic activity.