Alkylcarbonate synthesis by new catalytic system

Abstract A new synthetic method of alkylcarbonate using new catalytic reaction system was studied. Cu-Zeolites X and Y were tested as the catalysts for the oxidative carbonylation reaction which is from methanol, carbon monoxide and oxygen. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy. Ion-exchanged zeolites X and Y in CuCl 2 2H 2 O of 0.5M solution showed the activity for the dimethylcarbonate synthesis. In the reaction, dimethylcarbonate (DMC) is produced as major reaction product and carbon dioxide is formed by oxidation of carbon monoxide. A CuNaX catalyst exhibits the highest activity and it shows the selectivity of 60% to 75%. In CuNaX, the faujasite structure was destroyed during catalyst preparation, but the amorphous silica-alumina could performed a role of support. The yield of DMC depends on reaction time, temperature, pressure but is slightly changed by increase of methanol. The activity of catalyst is affected by water content, and Cu 2+ cation existed in zeolite cage strongly interacts A1 in zeolite. The active component in the Cu-Zeolites catalysts seemed to be Cu 2 OCl 2 .