DMC has been extensively studied asc of establishing low-waste-generating and solvent-free chemical processes. For example, Selva and Perosa compared the sustainability of different methylating agents (DMC, CH3I, dimethyl sulfate, and MeOH) in terms of atomic efficiency and mass index [63]. The study focused on the methylation of three different substrates: phenol, phenylacetonitrile and aniline. According to calculations performed by the authors, MeOH and DMC-mediated methylation provided the best scores for both mass index and atomic efficiency. Furthermore, if DMC and MeOH are compared, the intrinsically harmless nature of the former, higher activity, and increased selectivity for monomethylation reactions make DMC the most promising green candidate to replace traditional methylation reagents.
For this reason, attention has been drawn to the possibility of mono-C-methylation of CH2 active compounds (Scheme 7.19). In particular, dimethyl carbonate enables high yields of monomethylated arylacetonitriles, important intermediates in the production of anti-inflammatory drugs
Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) is an important (environmentally friendly) chemical used as a fuel additive. It is considered as an alternative to methyl tert-butyl ether. 33 A byproduct of the reaction of propylene carbonate (PC) and methanol (MeOH) is also a valuable product, propylene glycol (PG). Propylene glycol is used as a raw material in the manufacture of plastics and aircraft deicer mixtures, among other things. 34
The three main producers of DMC, Henan Zhongyuan Dahua Group, Ube Electronics and HighChem have a joint venture, and their production rate is 100 × 103 tons·year −1.35 Therefore, the specified production target is 1700 kg·h−1.36 of purity for DMC and PG, products and by-products should be greater than or equal to 99.9 wt%.