The industrially important alkyl aryl ethers (ArOR) were selectively obtained in good yields from the O-alkylation of the corresponding phenols with the environmentally benign reagents, dimethyl carbonate or diethyl carbonate. The reactions were carried out under atmospheric pressure, in a homogenous process, without solvent and in the presence of potassium carbonate as catalyst.
Green ContextThe replacement of salt-forming reagents with more efficient systems is exemplified by the use of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) in place of e.g. methyl chloride. Here, DMC is successfully used to methylate phenols in good yield and with only (recyclable) methanol and CO 2 as co-products. Separation is relatively simple.
ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.