Efficient methanol carbonylation to methyl acetate catalyzed by a cyclic(alkyl)(amino)carbene iridium complex

Abstract

An efficient cyclic(alkyl)(amino) carbene iridium complex (C-2) was developed for methanol carbonylation to methyl acetate (MA) directly. Compared with previous results, methanol carbonylation to MA catalyzed by C-2 was performed quite well at a low temperature (120 °C). The reaction showed excellent selectivity toward MA (96%) even when the conversion was high (81%). The reaction processes were also investigated by stoichiometric experiments and theoretical calculations.