Hydrofluoric acid

Alex00109 May, 2023Science

In a standard refinery process known as alkylation, isobutane is alkylated with low molecular weight olefins (mainly a mixture of propylene and butenes) in the presence of an acid catalyst derived from hydrofluoric acid. This catalyst protonates olefins (propylene, butene) to generate reactive carbocations, thereby alkylating isobutane. The reaction proceeds as a biphasic reaction at mild temperatures (0 and 30 ?C). Hydrofluoric acid was first prepared by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1771. [9] It is now mainly produced by treating the mineral fluorite CaF2 with concentrated sulfuric acid at about 265 ?C.