The O-Methylation of phenol with dimethyl carbonate (DMC) over KBr/SiO2 catalyst was carried out and the reaction mechanism was investigated by in-situ FTIR. It was found that phenol was deprotonated to generate phenolate at 100 ºC but DMC was found no activation even at elevated temperature except a little decompose at 200 ºC. As a result anisole was formed at 150 ºC. Methylation mechanism was proposed based on those, in which phenolate was generated firstly and then acted as an active phase to attack methyl carbon of DMC to yield anisole. The activation of DMC seemed to be not essential.
Bing Chen ,
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