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 propy-lene 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°C, 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%.