Abstract Investigations of simple formoins such as 2, 5-bis (1, 1-dimethyl-2-phenylethyl)-2, 4- dihydroxyfuran-3 (2H)-one (17), benzoylformoin (18), p-toluoylformoin (19), pivaloylformoin (20), and the 2, 4-dihydroxy-2, 5-bis (heterocycl-2-yl) furan-3-ones 21− 23 (heterocycle= furan, thiophene, selenophene) by NMR spectroscopy in DMSO showed the dihydroxyfuranone skeleton and not an enediol structure. The formoin 17 was oxidized to ...