OK think I got it with some help from your hint. The reaction can be performed in aqueous solution with sulfuric acid catalyst. Does that sound right?
And no, I'm not a college student. This is a small piece of a pretty large and difficult problem set of interview questions. The questions are open book, open-world (we can reach out to anyone) and range in topics from math, engineering, biology, chemistry, you name it. Thanks for the *delete me*