8 9 the major products after treatment of the reaction mixture with sodium methoxide in methanol at reflux were esters 8 and 9 derived from initially formed a-chlorodiphenylacetyl chloride (6h6 A small amount of carbon monoxide and a comparable amount of acetal 7 derived from dichloride 5 were also noted. A control experiment in which ketone 2 and acid chloride 6 were heated in benzene with phenylmercuric bromide gave only unreacted ...
