An efficient alumina-supported CuO-catalyzed O-arylation of phenols and aliphatic alcohols with various aryl as well as heteroaryl halides under ligand-free conditions are reported. This protocol provides a variety of diaryl ether and bis-diaryl ether motifs by reacting different aryl/aliphatic halides with differently substituted phenols and saturated alcohols in the presence of a catalytic amount of CuO on alumina and KOH as a base at moderate ...