″) is employed. The catalyst powder is placed between two layers of granular quartz. The liquid reactants are fed into the reactor with a high pressure liquid pump. At the outlet of the reactor a 50 cm piece of tubing ( ″, 0.020″ id) is used as condenser. High surface area MgO (220 m 2 /g) was synthesized in situ by thermal treatment of Mg(OH) 2 (350°C) in air flow for 4 hours. With this catalyst at 300°C as many as 7 moles of substrate per mole of MgO can be ...