Zinc aluminate (ZnAl2O4) nanoparticles with an average particle size of about 8 nm were easily prepared by the co-precipitation method using aqueous ammonia solution as the precipitating agent. This nano-sized spinel-type oxide was characterized by TGA, XRD, FT-IR, TEM, and surface area measurement and used as the heterogeneous catalyst for the acetylation reaction. Efficient acetylation of various amines, alcohols and phenols was carried out over ZnAl2O4 nanoparticles using acetic anhydride and/or acetyl chloride as the acetylating agents at room temperature without the use of a solvent. The method is highly selective, allowing the alcoholic hydroxyl group to be protected while the phenolic hydroxyl group remains intact, and the amine group can be acetylated in the presence of the hydroxyl group. This method is fast and has a high yield. It is also clean, safe, cost effective, compatible with substrates that have other functional groups and very suitable for practical organic synthesis. In addition, the catalyst can be reused without significant loss of activity. Indeed, the catalytic activity of the ZnAl2O4 nanoparticles is higher than that of bulk ZnAl2O4. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.