Hello.
I need to mix methanol and sulphuric acid, but which temperature and concentration would be needed for the production of dimethyl sulfate to take place? It would not happen at room temperature with diluted sulphuric acid, would it?
Thank you.
It may not be possible to avoid the formation of dimethyl sulfate or monomethyl sulfate upon mixing methanol & sulfuric acid but these "undesirable" products could be returned to CH3OH & H2SO4 if the acid is more concentrated & if the temperature is raised reasonably "to prevent methanol from boiling" after mixing them by e.g. warm water in an external pan surrounding the vessel.
Please see this reference:
https://www.chemours.com/Dimethyl_Sulfate/en_US/tech_info/chem_properties.html
This compound is formed almost immediately even at very low sulfuric acid concentrations. In the reaction of esterification of an organic acid with methanol, it acts as a homogeneous catalyst. Regards,
If you want to avoid it, you will need to dilute with water, which will reduce the acid strength and reactivity of sulfuric acid. That might make it unusable for your application.
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