Gas phase acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling (ADC) of ethanol to ethyl acetate is investigated over bulk MoS2. Yields of up to 56% are achieved at gas hourly space velocity of 1700 h(-1) and 260 degrees C using a high surface area co-precipitated MoS2 material. Addition of water to the ethanol feed decreases overall conversion but increases selectivity to acetic acid. After a short activation period, the catalyst is stable over reaction times exceeding 13 h. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) with CO as a probe molecule and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) are used to measure structural disorder within MoS2 samples. Samples with larger amounts of structural disorder are demonstrated to have enhanced dehydrogenation activity per total surface area. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.