Abstract: Titanium oxide acetylacetonate (TiO(acac)₂) was found to be a novel and efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification of phenol and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) to diphenyl carbonate (DPC). The conversion of phenol was 45.8% on the TiO(acac)₂ pretreated at 180 ^oC, and the turnover number reached 96, which was better than the more common organic titanium catalyst. The effect of the amount of catalyst on the catalytic performance was investigated. The transesterification selectivity decreased with catalyst loadings over 0.2 g per 100 ml reactants. At the optimized amount of catalyst the conversion of phenol was 42.4%, and no anisole was detected. In particular, the TiO(acac)₂ catalyst proved reusable, and catalytic activity of the recovered TiO(acac)₂ was almost the same as that of the fresh catalyst. The conversion of phenol 40.0% was attained from TiO(acac)₂ recovered for the fifth time.

Key words: titanium oxide acetylacetonate, diphenyl carbonate, transesterification, phenol, heterogeneous catalyst