The plant growth hormone a-naphthaleneacetic acid is ordinarily prepared by way of a- chloromethylnaphthalene and a-naphthaleneacetonit. ri1e. l Other procedures, in our hands at least, were less satisfactory. 2, The direct condensation of naphthalene with chloroacetic acid4 has been reported to yield naphthaleneacetic acid, and we have investigated this reaction in detail. After preliminary experiments gave poor and nonreproducible yields, we ...
