This proposal will measure vibrational spectra from a series of catalyst samples produced from a pilot plant reactor at Tianjin University China converting dimethylether to methylacetate. The project is supported by a Royal Society International Collaboration grant between Tianjin and Aberdeen University. Our objectives are to characterise the hydrocarbon species present in the zeolite at different stages in the catalyst lifetime. We hope to understand the reasons why the zeolite catalyst loses activity over a period of hours, and why this deactivation can be inhibited by pretreatment of the catalyst with pyridine. To obtain a full vibrational spectrum 100-4000 cm-1 we need to measure each sample on both TOSCA and MAPS.