Transesterification of propylene carbonate with methanol using Mg-Al-CO3 hydrotalcite as solid base catalyst

The catalytic activity of synthetic hydrotalcites of varying Mg/Al molar ratio from 2 to 5 has been investigated for the transesterification of propylene carbonate with methanol. The hydrotalcite with Mg/Al molar ratio of 5 at different calcination temperature has been characterized using FT-IR, P-XRD and surface area analyses. Under optimized conditions, the catalyst with Mg/Al molar ratio 5 shows highest propylene carbonate conversion (72 %) with 97 % dimethyl carbonate selectivity. The catalyst shows the highest TON (280 mmol DMC/g(cat)) ever reported with heterogeneous catalysts. A plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed based on the results obtained.