ABSTRACT
General Electric Global Research, One Research Circle, Niskayuna, NY 12309
soloveichik@crd.ge.com Abstract Diphenylcarbonate (DPC) is a key intermediate in the manufacture of LEXAN® polycarbonate resin by melt polymerization reaction of DPC and bisphenol A. One-step direct carbonylation of phenol to DPC is a potentially simpler route when compared with the commercial two-step process. Promising catalytic packages for one-step DPC synthesis consisting of a palladium catalyst, a lead co-catalyst and a halide (generally bromide) salt have been studied. Due to the complexity of DPC catalysis and the relatively high cost of conventional experiments, high throughput (HT) methodology was used both for design and optimization of lead based catalytic packages for DPC synthesis.
