A novel route for the synthesis of methyl acetoacetate by the methoxycarbonylation of acetone with dimethyl carbonate was developed in the presence of solid base catalysts. Solid bases with moderate strength (such as MgO) facilitated the formation of methyl acetoacetate, and the yield of methyl acetoacetate could be linearly correlated with the amount of moderate base sites. The in situ FTIR indicated that the reaction was mainly attributed to the activation of acetone via the abstraction of H-alpha by basic sites. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.