When sodium acetate in acetic acid was electrolyzed in the presence of 1, l- diphenylethylene, the latter was converted into a mixture of 2-0-acetyl-1, l-diphenylethylene glycol (I) and its corresponding diacetate (11). The mechanism of this novel electrolytic hydroxylation and acetoxylation reaction was. investigated stereochemically by conducting similar electrolyses in the presence of trans-stilbene. Under anhydrous conditions, this ...
