of calcined catapal u00ae sb alumina powder was heated to reflux 185 u00b0 190 u00b0 c with an attached dean stark trap containing 35 ml of toluene after 1 hour the theoretical amount 10 ml of water had been collected and no further water was produced after separation of the product by filtration it was analyzed by gas chromatography and found to contain 4 4 toluene 28 3 phenol 0 65 benzylphenyl ether 55 o benzylphenol and 11 7 higher boiling components primarily 5 1 2 6 benzylphenol no m p benzylphenol was present in the product this example illustrates the process of my invention using pelleted activated alumina the example also shows that the catalyst maintains its activity over a series of runs four runs were made in this example a mixture of 564 g 6 0 moles of phenol 324 g 3 0 moles of benzyl alcohol and 89 g of pelleted and calcined catapal sb alumina mixed with 50 ml of toluene was charged to a 2 1 3 necked flask fitted with a thermometer mechanical stirrer and dean stark trap with condenser the reaction mixture was heated to reflux n18 u00b0 c with very slow stirring just enough to agitate the liquid without moving the catalyst pellets the amount of water collected in the trap was measured as a function of time as an indication of the reaction rate after no more water was produced the reaction mixture was cooled and the liquid product poured off the catalyst the total reaction time was 63 4 hours the above described procedure was repeated identically three more times using the same batch of catalyst a plot of water produced.