Regioselectivity nitration of aromatics with N2O5 in PEG-based dicationic ionic liquid

Regioselective mononitration of simple aromatic compounds has been investigated with N2O5 as nitrating agent and a new PEG200-based dicationic acidic ionic liquid (PEG200-DAIL) as catalyst. The results of experiments show that this nitration system can significantly improve the para-selectivity of alkyl-benzenes and the ortho-selectivity of halogenated-benzenes. The PEG200-DAIL exhibits recyclable temperature-dependant phase behavior in CCl4 solvent, and it can be recycled without apparent loss of catalytic activity, and only 5% loss of weight is observed after six times recycling.