Lanthanum oxide catalyst prepared by precipitation method and calcined at 600 °C exhibited better catalytic activity in the catalytic synthesis of glycerol carbonate from glycerol and urea with TOF up to 1506 mmol/g·h. It was proposed that the lanthanum oxide catalyst with more strong basic sites (TdN400 °C) exhibited higher catalytic activity. Accordingly, the catalyst containing appropriate amount of La2O2CO3 phase exhibited higher catalytic activity. Moreover, the recycling experiments demonstrated that the catalytic activity can be essentially preserved during the recycling tests investigated.

Keywords: Glycerol carbonate; Urea; Glycerol; Lanthanum oxide; Solid base

★★★☆☆ L. Wang et al. / Catalysis Communications 12 (2011) 1458–1462