With selenium as catalyst and triethylamine as cocatalyst, a facile one-pot phosgene-free synthesis of naphthalen-1-ylcarbamates by selenium-catalyzed redox carbonylation of I-nitronaphthalene with alcohols and carbon monoxide was achieved. The effects of temperature, pressure, time, and the content of catalyst, triethylamine and alcohol on the reaction were studied. It turned out that the reaction proceeded efficiently under optimized conditions with a series of alcohols to afford the corresponding naphthalen-1-ylcarbamates in fair to good yields. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.