Can citric acid protonation produce benzene and water Is this reaction possible: $\ce{C6H8O7 + 12 H3O -&gt; C6H6 + 19 H2O}$?
Considering that the $\ce{H+}$ can be induced by ionization of the citric acid solution the benzene can be produced in this way?
Here's a drawing of citric acid and benzene.  You would have to spend a lot of energy in order to break a large number of bonds (carbon-carbon bonds, carbon-oxygen bonds and carbon-hydrogen bonds) to rearrange citric acid into benzene.  This would be unlikely to occur in a natural process and would require many steps in the laboratory.