Metal-organic frameworks as an acid catalyst for the synthesis of ethyl methyl carbonate via transesterification

An efficient synthesis of ethyl methyl carbonate using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as Lewis acid catalyst has been realized by the transesterification of dimethyl carbonate and diethyl carbonate. The effects of reaction time, temperature, amount of catalyst and the ratios of substrates on the yield of the objective product were examined. It was demonstrated that MOFs can catalyze the reaction smoothly, and that good yield of ethyl methyl carbonate and high selectivity was achieved under optimized conditions. The catalyst leaching test has shown that the reaction takes place heterogeneously. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily recovered simply by centrifugation and reused over three times without obvious loss of its catalytic activity. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.