Abstract: Methyleugenol was prepared from eugenol in the presence of potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃), using dimethyl carbonate(DMC) as methylating agent instead of the conventional toxic agents. Using the yield of methyleugenol as the evalution index, central composite design process was used to optimize the methylation reaction of eugenol and DMC. An optimum reaction condition for the preparation of the targeted product was as follows, reaction temperature 155 ℃, the amount of K₂CO₃ 6.12 %(mea-sured by the molar ratio of eugenol), the molar ratio of DMC and eugenol 4.3:1 and reaction time 6 h. Under this condition the conversion rate reached 96.16 %. Meanwhile, repeated experiments showed that the reaction process was easy to be controlled and excellent repetitiveness can be acquired. GC-MS and IR spectral analysis were employed to confirm the structure of the product.

Key words: dimethyl carbonate, methyleugenol, potassium carbonate, methylating, central composite design