Abstract: Pseudoionone was synthesized by citral and acetone under microwave. The structure of pseudoionone was identified by IR, GC-MS and ¹H NMR. Effects of different types of catalysts, catalysts' dosage, reaction temperature, reaction time, microwave power and molar ratio of raw materials on the yield of product were discussed. The optimum reaction conditions were：NaOH/KOH (1:1) mixture as catalyst, n(citral):n(acetone):n(catalyst) 1:8:0.1,microwave power 400 W, reaction time 2 h and reaction temperature 50℃. Under these conditions, the yield of product reached 93.4%. The reaction time is much shorter under microwave irradiation than that under traditional method.

Key words: microwave irradiation, pseudoionone, solid base