The alkylation of iso-butane with 1-butene was catalyzed by triflic acid (TFOH) coupled with a series of protic ammonium-based ionic liquids (AMILs), and the addition of the AMILs dramatically enhanced the efficiency of TFOH for the alkylation reaction. Up to 85.1% trimethylpentanes (TMP) selectivity and 98 research octane number (RON) were achieved with the optimized TFOH/AMIL catalyst (75vol.% triflic acid and 25vol.% triethylammonium ...