“…[1][2][3] Catalytic systems used for the benzylation of aromatic compounds include HfO 2 -HfCl 4 , 3 aliquat 336, 4 phosphomolybdic acid supported silica gel, 5 TMSOTf, 6 organozinc and organoboron derivatives, HCl, H 2 SO 4 , MeSO 3 H, HOTf and HNTf 2 . 7 However, some of these procedures suffer from various drawbacks, such as complex workup and purification, production of significant amounts of waste materials, use of strongly acidic conditions, and occurrence of side reactions with poor yields. In recent years, silica sulfuric acid (SSA), as one of the more important solid acid catalysts, [8][9][10][11][12] and 3-methyl-1sulfonic acid imidazolium tetrachloroaluminate ([Msim]AlCl 4 ), as a new sulfonic acid functionalized imidazolium salts (SAFIS) with interesting applications, have been reported (Figure 1).…”