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

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%.