Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of 1,4-butanediol was investigated over rare earth oxides supported on ZrO(2). In the dehydration of 1,4-butanediol, 3-buten-1-ol was mainly produced, together with tetrahydrofuran (THF) and gamma-butyrolactone. The heavy group of rare earth oxides, such as Dy(2)O(3), Ho(2)O(3), Er(2)O(3), Tm(2)O(3), Yb(2)O(3), and Lu(2)O(3), supported on monoclinic ZrO(2) showed higher selectivity to 3-buten-1-ol than pure monoclinic ZrO(2) and supported light rare earth oxides. such as La(2)O(3) and Pr(6)O(11). Supported Yb(2)O(3) catalysts dispersed on other oxides, such as alumina, silica, and tetragonal ZrO(2) catalyze the formation of THF. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements reveal that cubic Yb(2)O(3) crystallites dispersed on monoclinic ZrO(2) provide active sites in the dehydration of 1,4-butanediol to produce 3-buten-1-ol. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.