Abstract: Oligomerization of 1-decene was carried out with ionic liquids as catalyst to obtain poly-α-olefins synthetic oil (PAO). The influences of AlCl3 molar fraction in ionic liquids, reaction temperature, reaction time and the amount of catalyst on the catalytic performance were studied. The experimental results showed that under the conditions of AlCl3 molar fraction more than 0.57 and reaction temperature less than 60 ℃, ionic liquids displayed good catalytic performance for the oligomerization of 1-decene, the kinematic viscosity of the prepared PAO was over 40 mm2/s (100 ℃). The kinematic viscosity of PAO was largely depended on the reaction temperature, which would influence the chain-transfer reactions. Side-reactions, such as isomerization, were observed and were enhanced significantly with the increase of ionic liquids. In addition, the produced PAO were insoluble in the ionic liquids, the separation was convenient and the catalyst could be used repeatedly without obvious deactivation.

Key words: ionic liquids, poly-alpha-olefins(PAO), oligomerization, branch ratio, synthetic oil