Cycling of waste fusel alcohols from sugar cane industries using supercritical carbon dioxideElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Mass spectra of isopentyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, crude fusel alcohol, DBU, carbonates from DBN, carbonates from TBD, 2,4-dichlorobenzyl isopentyl carbonate, 2,4-dichlorobenzyl isobutyl carbonate, isononyl alcohol, butyl-isononyl carbonate and cholesterol-butyl carbonate; 1H and 13C NMR spectra of the carbonates; FTIR spectra of crude fusel oil and

The present study describes the clean synthesis of non-phosgene organic carbonates (NPOCs) from a selective multicomponent reaction with two important by-products from sugar and alcohol industries, namely, fusel alcohols and carbon dioxide, in the presence of 1,8-diazabicycloundecene (DBU), 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]-non-5-ene (DBN) or 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-2 H -pyrimido[1,2- a ]-pyrimidine (TBD) and an alkylating agent. The bases were used for the nucleophilic activation of the alcohols. The synthesis of carbonates was carried out without solvent and confirmed by GC-MS with EI ionization mode, 1 H- and 13 C-NMR and FT-IR analysis. The carbonates were obtained in excellent yields. Crude fusel alcohol can be converted to alkylcarbonates. The proposed methodology can also be employed to convert other hydroxylated compounds into carbonates. The present work describes the clean synthesis of non-phosgene organic carbonates (NPOCs) with two important by-products from sugar and alcohol industries, namely, fusel alcohols and carbon dioxide, in the presence of DBU, DBN or TBD and an alkylating agent.