Poisoning of aldol condensation reaction with H2O on acid catalysts

The effect of chemisorbing water on three catalysts previously evaluated in the acetone condensation reaction has been studied. The active sites in that reaction are Lewis acid sites present either on the surface of alumina or of nonframework alumina in zeolites. These sites are poisoned by water and the reaction rate decreases at the pace of the loss of Lewis sites. The stoichiometry of the poisoning reactions is one water molecule per site on alumina and two water molecules per site on nonframework alumina. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.