Esterifications of alcohols with carboxylic acids in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-butylpyridinium chloride–aluminium(III) chloride as green reaction medium in catalytic quantities have been investigated. Excellent conversion and selectivities were achieved, and the most of resultant esters could be easily recovered due to immiscibility with the ionic liquid.

★★★☆☆ Keywords: Ionic liquid; Esterification; Catalyst

★★★☆☆ Y. Deng et al. / Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical 165 (2001) 33–36.