V-Cu oxide for transesterification of dimethyl carbonate with phenol

A series of catalysts were studied for the synthesis of diphenyl carbonate(DPC)by transesterification of dimethyl carbonate(DMC)with phenol.It was found that V-Cu oxide was the best catalyst among the tested catalysts.The effects of V-Cu amount,molar ratio of copper to vanadium,molar ratio of dimethyl carbonate to phenol and reaction time were investigated.Under the conditions of catalyst amount 3.1%(mass ratio to phenol),molar ratio of Cu/V of 1∶4,molar ratio of DMC/phenol of 1.5∶1 and a reaction time 9 h,the maximum conversion of phenol and total yields of methyl phenyl carbonate(MPC)and DPC were 41.9% and 40.3%,respectively.Reuse of the catalyst revealed that V-Cu oxide was a relatively stable catalyst.The activity of the catalyst after being reused four times reduced from 41.9% to 29.1%.Moreover,the deactivated catalyst was easily regenerated by calcination in air,and the catalytic activity of the regenerated catalyst was almost as high as that of the fresh sample,the phenol conversion was 39.8%.