Effects of acidity of ionic liquid, the reaction temperature and reaction time on saccharification of α-tocopherol with β-D-acylated glucose were studied using ionic liquid FeCl₃-chloro[butylmethylimidazole] as both reaction medium and catalyst. The experiment re-sults indicated that the acivity of ionic liquid correlated well with acidity. The reactive of ionic liquid in-creased with the increasing of the acidity. The ionic liquid system provided a fast, efficient protocol to α­tocopheryl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranoside in higher conver-sion. When the molar ratio of FeCl₃ to [Bmim]Cl is 2 in ionic liquid [Bmim]Cl/FeCl₃ and the reation was kept at 45 ℃ for 3 h, about 70.2% conversion rate of α-tocopherol could be obtained. Compared with organic solvents, the reaction condition was mild, the reaction time was short and the reactive activity of ionic liquid was higher. The products could be easily separated from the ionic liquid due to their immiscibility. The ionic liquid could be used repeatedly and regarded as an environmen-tally benign system.

Key words: α-tocopherol, α-tocopheryl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranoside, ionic liquid [Bmim]Cl/FeCl₃