Preparation of dialkyl oxalates using a heterogeneous Pd-V-P catalyst for the oxidative carbonylation of alcohols

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 heterogeneous tri-metallic-containing catalyst comprising palladium or a salt thereof in combination with a single phase crystalline vanadium-phosphorus containing compound consisting of a vanadium oxide and an oxide of phosphorus said catalyst containing as the metals an atomic ratio of palladium to vanadium to phosphorus of from about 0.01:1:0.5 to about 0.2:1:3 and recovering the desired dialkyl oxalate.