Salts of the type [CH~ CHXC (OE~) L](12 is 4 when S= I; 16 is 0 and 2 when X= Br) have been isolated and shown to be the intermediates through which certain dimeric products are formed when these halogens react with methylketene diethylacetal. Cyanogen does not react with this ketene acetal, but both bromocyanogen and iodocyanogen add readily as X+- CS to give only CHSCHXC (OEt) 2CN in high yields. Hydrogen cyanide reacts ...
