One-Pot Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate Catalyzed by [bmim]BF4/CH3ONa

The one-pot synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from propylene oxide, carbon dioxide, and methanol was investigated. The catalyst adopted was a mixture of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim]BF4) and sodium methoxide. Under the reaction conditions of 4 MPa, 5 h, and 150°C, the conversion of propylene oxide was above 95%, and the selectivity for propylene carbonate was 87.1%. More importantly, the yield of dimethyl carbonate reached 67.6%, which is higher than the results of the previous literature using the one-pot synthesis method.