The vapor phase alkylation of pyrrole was carried out over ferrospinels using methanol and dimethylcarbonate (DMC). The activity of the catalysts varied with the acidity of the ferrospinel systems tested. The yields of 2-methylpyrrole with respect to the conversion of pyrrole were 77.2% and 70.4% when methanol and DMC were used as alkylating agents, respectively, over CoFe2O4 under optimized conditions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.