A novel strategy for conversion of methanol and CO2 into dimethoxymethane in a basic ionic liquid

•Basic functionalized ionic liquid as an effective catalyst.•Catalyst for activation and conversion of CO2 and methanol.•Role of CO2 for synthesizing dimethoxymethane.•Thermodynamics analysis for the synthesis reaction.

The reaction of methanol with CO2 to obtain dimethoxymethane (DMM) at 150 °C and initial pressure of 3.0 MPa CO2 was realized in the presence of basic functionalized ionic liquid BmimOH. Although the conversion of methanol was low (2.4%), CO2 as a soft oxidant was firstly introduced for selective oxidation of methanol into DMM. The effect of the functionalized group composed of ionic liquids on the reactivity and selectivity was explored and the activation and reaction mechanism of the ionic liquid for methanol and CO2 was proposed. In addition, the reaction thermodynamics of methanol and CO2 was discussed by calculating the thermodynamic functions of the reaction in order to explore the direction and limitation of the reaction.

Graphical abstractCO2 was firstly introduced for selective oxidation of methanol to dimethoxymethane catalyzed by basic functionalized ionic liquids.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (139 K)Download as PowerPoint slide