Institution: | aState Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China bGraduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, People's Republic of China |
Abstract: | The methoxycarbonylation of propylene oxide (PO) to methyl β-hydroxybutyrate (MHB) catalyzed by dicobaltoctacarbonyl (Co2(CO)8]) and 3-hydroxypyridine (3-OH-Py) in methanol system has been studied. The effects of different additives, the molar ratio of 3-OH-Py:Co2(CO)8, temperature, carbon monoxide (CO) pressure, reaction time on the conversion and selectivity have been investigated. The conversion of propylene oxide is 80.4%, and the yield of methyl β-hydroxybutyrate is 74.9% with selectivity 93.2% when the reaction is carried out for 16 h at 80 °C and 6.0 MPa of CO in methanol, with 0.125 mmol of Co2(CO)8, 0.25 mmol of 3-OH-Py. The mechanism of this catalytic reaction has also been proposed. |