New developments in dimethyl carbonate chemistry

Dimethylcarbonate (DMC) is a valuable methylating reagent which can replace methyl halides and dimethylsulfate in the methylation of a variety of nucl eophiles. It couples tunable reactivity and unprecedented selectivity towar d mono-C- and mono-N-methylation in the reactions of acidic CH2 and primary aromatic amines, respectively. In addition, it is a prototype example of a green reagent, since it is nontoxic, made by a clean process, and biodegra dable, and it reacts in the presence of a catalytic amount of base thereby avoiding the formation of undesirable inorganic salts as by-products. Other remarkable reactions are those where DMC behaves as an oxidant: cyclic ket ones are transformed into alpha,omega -dimethyl esters with a reaction of a tom efficiency of 1.0.