Magnesium oxide nanosheets as effective catalysts for the synthesis of diethyl carbonate from ethyl carbamate and ethanol

Abstract

A series of MgO catalysts were prepared by thermal decomposition and precipitation methods. Their catalytic performance was evaluated in the synthesis of diethyl carbonate (DEC) from ethyl carbamate (EC) and ethanol. Among them, MgO prepared using sodium carbonate as the precipitant and calcined at 450 °C (MgO-SC-450) exhibited much higher catalytic activity. An excellent DEC yield of 58.0% with a high DEC selectivity of 92.1% could be achieved over the MgO-SC-450 catalyst under optimized reaction conditions: 210 °C, ethanol/EC molar ratio of 10, and 3 h. Moreover, the catalytic activity could be essentially retained during recycling experiments. The structure and surface basicity of the MgO catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mastersizer 2000, N₂ adsorption, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and temperature-programmed desorption of CO₂ (CO₂-TPD). It was found that MgO-SC-450 possessed nanosheet morphology. Furthermore, a larger amount of appropriate medium basic β sites of MgO-SC-450 with the peak located between 225 °C and 275 °C was favourable for obtaining much superior catalytic activity. Quasi in situ FT-IR experiments were carried out to elucidate the adsorption behaviours of reactants. It was found that EC could be effectively activated and ethanol could be dissociated to a strong nucleophilic ethoxy group by MgO. In addition, theoretical calculation proved the co-adsorption of EC and ethanol on the MgO surface. Based on the results of quasi in situ FT-IR experiments and theoretical calculation, a plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed for the catalytic reaction.