Efficient Synthesis of Solketal from Glycerol and Acetone Catalyzed by FeCl₃ /γ‐Al₂O₃**

Abstract The porous spherical alumina (γ‐Al 2 O 3 ) as catalyst support was prepared by sol‐gel method, and FeCl 3 /γ‐Al 2 O 3 materials were prepared by impregnation method. The FeCl 3 /γ‐Al 2 O 3 materials were used as catalyst in the Solketal production process by acetalization of acetone and glycerol, showing considerable catalytic performance. When the molar ratio of glycerol and acetone was 1 : 10, 0.2 mol% FeCl 3 /γ‐Al 2 O 3 was used as the catalyst, and the reaction was carried out at 25 °C for 30 min, the conversion of glycerol was 99.89 %, the selectivity of Solketal was 98.36 %, and the yield of Solketal reached 98.25 %. The mechanism is due to the spherical γ‐Al 2 O 3 support has high thermal stability, large specific surface area, and rich pore structure, encouraging abundant active sites and high catalytic activity of FeCl 3 for the acetalization reaction. Thereafter, the experimental results prove that the prepared FeCl 3 /γ‐Al 2 O 3 catalyst can be easily recovered and reused many times, indicating its great value for large‐scale research and application in the future.