One of the many applications of the Diels-Alder reaction has become the basis of an established method for the synthesis of anthraquinones. The method consists in adding a diene to a-naphthoquinone, or in adding two molecules of a diene to p-benzoquinone, and converting the adduct into an anthraquinone by isomerization and oxidation. It occurred to us that another route to members of the anthraquinone series might be developed on the ...
