Abstract Based on the ideas of green chemistry, the synthesis of benzocaine, one of traditional organic chemistry experiments, was improved in this article. The ionic liquid ethyl pyridine hydrogen sulfate was synthesized and used as the esterification catalyst instead of concentrated sulfuric acid. The effects of acid/alcohol ratio, amount of ionic liquid, reaction time and catalyst reuse on esterification were discussed. The process of after-treatment was simplied by the usage of Pd-C/HCOONH4 in the reducing atmosphere rather than iron-acid system, and also the amount of Pd-C on the reduction reaction was analyzed.
