The methoxycarbonylation of anilines stands as an attractive method for the phosgene-free production of carbamates. Despite the high yields obtained for ceria catalysts, the reduction of the amounto fs ide products and the prevention of catalyst deactivation still represent major hurdles in this chemistry.O ne advantage of ceria is the possibility of tuning its reactivity by doping its lattice with other metals. In the present work, as eries of dopedc eria-based materials, prepared by substitution with metals, are evaluated in the methoxycarbonylation of 2,4-diaminotoluene with dimethyl carbonate.A monga ll catalysts, containing Eu, Hf, La, Pr,S m, Tb, Yo rZ r, ceria promoted with 2mol %Z re xhibited 96 % selectivity towards the desired carbamates, improving the pure CeO 2 catalyst. Densityf unctional theoryd emonstrates that two descriptors are needed: 1) ag eometric factor that governs the reductiono fe nergy barriers for carbamate formationt hrough ureas;2)catalyst basicity as NÀHb onds need to be activated. Assessment in subsequent reaction cycles revealed that the CeO 2-ZrO 2 catalysti sm ore stable than bulk CeO 2 ,a long with the reduction of fouling processes.