Poptart,
The easiest, sure-fire method of dehydrating either 3-phenyl-1-propanol or 3-phenyl-3-propanol is to dehydrate it with some tosic acid in refluxing toluene. A Dean-Stark trap should be placed between the still pot and the reflux condensor to monitor the progress of the reaction and keep the equilibrium shifted to the right. The progress of the reaction can be monitored by keeping an eye on the amount of water collecting in the trap. This is a very clean reaction and produces very high yields of alkene when applied to 3,4 methylenedioxyphenyl-1-butanol.
