Alkyl chlorides, reaction with wood

Alkyl Chlorides. In the reaction of alkyl chlorides with wood, HCl is formed as a by-product (Reaction 3). 

Dimethylcarbonate (DMC) has found some use as an alkylating agent to produce either methocarbonate quats or bicarbonate quats (after hydrolysis). DMC is a fairly weak alkylating agent and reactions are often run at elevated temperatures with an excess of DMC and methanol as a solvent/catalyst. Other carbonates can be used to make bicarbonate and carbonate quats by an in situ transesterification-quaternization process [35]. The attraction of dimethyl carbonate is that it has a good environmental profile and the quats produced do not have the corrosivity shown by chloride quats, making them favoured for wood preservation where corrosion of nails, screws and staples is a concern. 

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