A nonhydrolytic sol-gel process that uses acetone as the condensation reagent is described. In the new process, the hydrocarbon soluble Zn(OCEt3)2 is converted to a rigid, transparent gel and then to ZnO by an aldol-condensation-elimination sequence. The chemical pathway for the transformation has been established, and differs completely from the pathway for the conventional hydrolytic sol-gel processing of alkoxide precursors. The new, nonhydrolytic strategy may prove applicable to a variety of metal-alkoxide systems.