Abstract
Abstract A facile, highly efficient and phosgene-free synthesis process of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with n -butanol (BuOH) to dibutyl carbonate (DBC) by transesterification reaction has been studied in detail using tetraethylammonium-based amino acid ionic liquids ([N 2222 ][AA]) as homogeneous catalysts. The results indicated that tetraethylammonium prolinate ([N 2222 ][Pro]) exhibited the best catalytic activity in compared to other four [N 2222 ][AA], and DBC could be obtained at a yield of 72% under optimum conditions. Furthermore, quantum-mechanical calculations manifested that such high DBC yield originated from the synergistic dual activation catalysis of [N 2222 ][Pro]. [N 2222 ][Pro] could activate BuOH and DMC well at the same time, which enhances the electrophilicity of BuOH and the nucleophilicity of DMC respectively, leading to the excellence catalytic performance.
Published Version
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