Petroleum and Petrochemicals Department, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Sa fat, Kuwait to shed more light on the reaction mechanism of a,@-unsaturated ketones with diethyl malonate, and to determine the spectral properties and configuration of the products. When IIa-c were allowed to react with diethyl malonate in the presence of sodium ethoxide in absolute ethanol, they gave rise to the corresponding ethyl P-aryl-y-benzoyl-a- ...