The isomerization of

n

-pentane to generate high-quality blending components for clean gasoline was catalyzed by several amide-AlCl

3

-based ionic liquid (IL) analogs with various amides as donor molecules. The catalytic performance of these IL analogs was evaluated in a magnetic agitated autoclave operated in batch mode. IL analog based

n

-methylacetamide (NMA)-AlCl

3

with the amide/AlCl

3

molar ratio of 0.65 showed excellent performance toward

n

-pentane isomerization because 0.65NMA-1.0AlCl

3

had a low viscosity and bidentate coordination structure. The influences of reaction time

reaction temperature

and stirring speed on the catalytic performance were also investigated. Optimal reaction conditions comprised the reaction time of 1 h

the reaction temperature of 40℃

and the stirring speed of 1500 r·min

-1

. Under optimal condition

the

n

-C5 conversion

research octane number (RON) increment

total liquids yield

and isoparaffin yield in isomerized oil were 56.80%

13.51

89.90 wt%

and 44.32 wt%

respectively. A new mathematical model was constructed to predict the relatio

nships among RON increment

RON increment/

n

-C5 conversion ratio

and

n

-C5 conversion. The new model indicated that an appropriate conversion per pass of

n

-C5 did not exceed 50%-55%. Various cycloparaffin additives were used to improve the catalytic performance of 0.65NMA-1.0AlCl

3

. The

n

-C5 conversion increased from 56.80% to 67.32%. The RON increment

total liquids yield

and isoparaffin yield reached 17.83

97.36 wt%

and 63.74 wt%

respectively.