Synthesis of Propylene Glycol Methyl Ether Catalyzed by MCM-41

Abstract

In this work, we found that MCM-41 prepared using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template could be used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the reaction of methanol with propylene oxide to produce propylene glycol methyl ether. 1-Methoxy-2-propanol was the predominant product. The influence of ratio of the reactants, reaction temperature, and time on the yield and selectivity was studied. The as-prepared MCM-41 proved to be an efficient and reusable catalyst, and the separation of the catalyst form the product was very easy.

Keywords:

• CTAB
• MCM-41
• methanol
• propylene glycol methyl ether (PGME)
• propylene oxide (PO)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2006CB202504, 2009CB930802) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20932002).