Acidic ionic liquid immobilized on nanoporous Na+-montmorillonite as an efficient and reusable catalyst for the formylation of amines and alcohols

In this work, nanoporous sodium montmorillonite clay (Na+-MMT) was used as a support for the immobilization of 1-methyl-3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)-imidazolium hydrogen sulfate. The Na+-MMT chemical modification ([Na+-MMT-[pmim]HSO4) was confirmed by a variety of techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy and potentiometric titration. The catalytic performance of this immobilized acidic ionic liquid was probed for the N-formylation of a variety of amines using formic acid under solvent-free conditions. This reagent is also useful for the formylation of benzylic alcohols. The procedure gave the products in excellent yields in very short reaction times. Also, this catalyst can be reused ten times without loss of its catalytic activity.