An efficient and selective synthesis of unsymmetrical tetrahydrofurfuryl carbonate and other organic carbonates was realized in the liquid phase transesterification dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with alcohols over the K2CO3/ZrO2 catalyst. Compared with MgO, CaO, MgAl-HDT, ZrO2, and CsF/alpha-Al2O3, the K2CO3/ZrO2 catalyst with lower basicity displayed a significantly higher activity. The results of FT-IR, XPS and CO2-TPD suggested that the carboxylate species on the surface of the K2CO3/ZrO2 catalyst were the active sites for the DMC transesterification. Other K2CO3 supported TiO2, SiO2 and Al2O3 catalysts showed a rather low catalytic activity due to the lack of carboxylate species. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.