Synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from transesterification of ethylene carbonate with methanol using immobilized ionic liquid on commercial silica

Abstract

Ionic liquid immobilized on commercial silica catalysts proved to be an effective heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from transesterification of ethylene carbonate (EC) with methanol. The immobilized 1-n-alkyl imidazolium halide ionic liquid on commercial silica (RImX-CS) was characterized by EA, BET, FT-IR, 13C NMR and 29Si NMR. It was found that RImX-CS with a longer alkyl chain length showed much better catalytic activity. RImX-CS with chloride (Cl−) as the counter anion showed the best catalytic activity. High temperature, high carbon dioxide pressure, and longer reaction time were favorable for the reactivity of BuImBr-CS. The catalyst can be reused for the reaction up to three consecutive runs without any considerable loss of its initial activity.