Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2005, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (6): 714-717.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

One-pot Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate in the Presence of a Two-component Catalyst

CHEN Xiu-zhi, HU Chang-wen, GAO Zhi-ming   

  1. 1. The Institute for Chemical Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P. R. China;
    2. Department of Chemistry, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P. R. China
  • Received:2004-11-04 Online:2005-11-23 Published:2011-08-06
  • Supported by:

    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.20331010, 20271007 and 90406002) and Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education(No.20030007014)

Abstract: The one-pot synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with co-production of propy-lene carbonate(PC) and propylene glycol(PG) from propylene oxide(PO), carbon dioxide and methanol as the starting materials was investigated.The catalyst adopted here was a mixture of tetrabutyl ammonium bromide and sodium methoxide.It was found that under the reaction conditions of t = 150 ℃, p =3-4 MPa and 2 h, the PO conversion could reach 100%, the DMC,PC and the PG selectivities were 49.7%, 42.7% and 49.8%, respectively, and the selectivity of by-products was below 10%.

Key words: Dimethyl carbonate, Carbon dioxide, Propylene oxide, Propylene carbonate, Catalyst