| abstract |
A process for producing dialkyl carbonates, such as dimethyl carbonate, from the reaction of a primary alcohol with urea in the presence of a novel catalyst which is a complex of organotin with a high boiling electron donor compound acting as solvent which are bidentate ligands which form 1:1 bidentate and/or 1:2 monodentate adducts with R'2SNX2 (X=C1, R'O, R'COO or R'COS), R'3SNX, R'2SnO, Ph3-n R'SnX n or Ph4-n SnX n (wherein R' = C q H2q+1 n = 0, 1 or 2 and q = 1 to 12) and mixtures thereof, such as materials having the general formula RO[CH2(CH2)K CH2O]MR, wherein each R is independently selec-ted from C1-12 alkyl, alkaryl or aralkyl moieties, k = 0, 1, 2 or 3 and m = 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. |