A simple and efficient approach for synthesis of pseudoionone from citral and acetone catalyzed by powder LiOH·H2O

A simple and efficient approach for synthesis of pseudoionone from the aldol condensation of citral with acetone catalyzed by powder LiOH·H2O as solid base was successfully developed in this work. The influences of reaction time, amount of catalyst, reaction temperature, and reuse of catalyst on the reaction were examined. The results indicate that conversion of citral can reach 98.9% with 97.7% of selectivity to pseudoionone under the optimal reaction conditions. This method has advantages of high conversion, high selectivity, short reaction time, no environmental pollution, simple work-up procedure, and catalyst can be conveniently recovered for recycling.