What is Dimethyl dicarbonate?

Dimethyl dicarbonate (DMDC), also known as Viguolin, is a kind of fruit juice beverage preservative (INS No. 242) that is allowed to be used in my country's food additive use standards. Under normal or even low temperature conditions, DMDC has a strong ability to kill many contaminating bacteria in fruit juice drinks, and its antiseptic effect is closely related to the modification and inactivation of key enzyme proteins in the bacteria by DMDC. 

Compared with other physical sterilization technologies, the use of DMDC is low in cost, simple and safe to operate, and does not affect the taste, smell and color of the product. It has become one of the hotspots in the research of emerging non-thermal sterilization technologies. At present, DMDC has been widely used in the sterilization process of carbonated beverages and other orange juice beverages with a bacterial count of less than 500CFU/mL in many European and American countries.

Preparation

In a 2000ml reaction flask, add 400g methyl chloroformate (industrial grade), 400ml dichloromethane, add 143.82g dodecyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride, stir and cool to 5-15°C, Add 1166gl 4% sodium hydroxide aqueous solution dropwise. After the addition is complete, let stand for layering. Discard the water layer. Add 32g 85% sulfuric acid to the organic layer. Stir for 1.5 hours at room temperature. Separate the layers. Add anhydrous magnesium sulfate to dry the organic layer and filter. , Then vacuum distillation, first remove the solvent, and then collect the 200Pa, 30°C -35°C distillate to obtain 232g of colorless liquid product dimethyl dicarbonate, yield 81.9%, freezing point 17°C, GC purity 99.9%.

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