Synthesis of oxalate esters by the oxidative carbonylation of alcohols with a heterogeneous manganese promoted Pd-V-P catalyst

Claim 1

A process for the preparation of dialkyl oxalates by the oxidative carbonylation of a liquid saturated monohydric aliphatic or alicyclic alcohol containing from 1 to 20 carbon atoms with a mixture of carbon monoxide and oxygen or an oxygen-containing gas at a temperature of from about 40° C. to 150° C. and a total pressure of between about 500 psig and 6000 psig in the presence of a catalytic amount of an essentially insoluble tetra-metallic-containing heterogeneous catalyst comprising palladium or a salt thereof in combination with a crystalline vanadium oxide-phosphorus oxide-manganese oxide containing compound said catalyst containing as the metals an atomic ratio of palladium to vanadium to phosphorus to manganese of from about 0.003:1:0.5:0.1 to about 0.32:1:5:5 and recovering the desired dialkyl oxalate.