Normal mercuric salts of mineral acids, with few exceptions, are not suitable for the alkoxymercuration of olefins. This is due to the insolubility of some mercuric salts and to the instability of the mercury-olefin adduct in the presence of mineral acid.'Mixed anion salts of XHgOCOCH3, where X is a mineral acid anion, are moderately soluble in water and the common alcohols and yield predominantly HgX+ and CH3C02-ions in solution. ...
