The catalytic behavior of the mesoporous sieve supported potassium nitrate KNO3/MCM-48 for the synthesis of dipropyl carbonates (DPC) by transesterification of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with propanol was investigated. The catalysts were characterized by the techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD), FT-IR spectroscopy, N-2 adsorption and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The XRD results indicated that the structure of MCM-48 was gradually deformed with the increase in the KNO3 loading, whereas the framework of MCM-48 was basically retained until the loading of KNO3 was over 18%. IR spectra showed that KNO3 was gradually decomposed with increasing calcination temperature. The CO2-TPD showed two new types of basic site were generated, which have higher catalytic ability for the synthesis of DPC. Effects of the loading amount of active components, the calcinatory temperature, the catalyst dosage and the reaction conditions on the catalytic activity were investigated in detail and the optimized reaction conditions were acquired. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.