Acetone Condensation Over Sulfated Zirconia Catalysts

The aldol condensation reaction over sulfated zirconia led to the production of diacetone alcohol, which was further dehydrated forming mesityl oxide. The sulfated zirconia was obtained from zirconium acetate ethane sulfonate as a single source precursor. Oxides were obtained by calcinations of the precursors at 550–650 °C, while the self-condensation reaction of acetone was carried out at 150 °C. The precursor and the produced oxides were characterized using various characterization techniques. The precursors were synthesized with different acetate to ethane sulfonate ratio, ranging from 1 to 3. The major products obtained from the condensation reaction over the resulted oxide were mesityl oxide, mesitylene isophorone, naphthalene, and pentamers. The selectivity of mesityl oxide was approximately 100 % at the initial time-on-stream.