We have found that both crotonate and anilide formations are reversible; the crotonate is converted to the anilide by heating with an equivalent of water and a trace of acid4 at 130- 140, whereas the reverse transformation takes place upon boiling the anilide with ethanol and Drierite. Furthermore, in contrast to ethyl acetoacetate, 2-ethylbutyl and n-amyl acetoacetates were found to react with aniline to form mainly the corresponding ...
