Sixteen new camphor-based imidazolium salts have been synthesized with renewable camphorsulfonic acid as the starting material. The chemical shifts of the characteristic proton of C-2 on the imidazolium ring (N-C=N) were discussed thoroughly and all of these imidazolium salts exhibit good thermal stability. Furthermore, the excellent catalytic performance of the synthesized imidazolium salts were observed in the oxidative esterification between aromatic or aliphatic aldehydes containing electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups on aromatic ring and primary or secondary alcohol by air as the sole oxidant. Graphic