Formation of methyl methacrylate from methyl propionate and methanol

The formation of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was studied in a vapor-phase reaction between methyl propionate (MP) and methanol without using any sources of formaldehyde. Silica-supported CsOH doped with a small amount of silver Ag was found to be the best catalyst. The optimum Ag/Cs/Si atomic ratio was 4–10/20–25/1000. When the reaction was performed in the absence of oxygen in the feed, the main product was methyl isobutyrate (MIB) at the beginning of the reaction; MMA was not obtained. As the time-on-stream increased, the formation of MIB fell, while that of MMA increased, showed a maximum, and then decreased gradually. In the case of the reaction performed in the presence of oxygen, the catalytic activity was stable. As the amount of oxygen increased, the yield of MMA increased, while the selectivity fell. The performances were further improved by the combination of a small amount of Ag–Cs/SiO2 catalyst and a large amount of Cs/SiO2 catalyst.