Ethyl 3, 3-dipentyl-2-oxooctanoate, Sa, was isolated in low yields when oxygen was passed into the Grignard complex, 1, R1= R,= Rs= CsHll, obtained from the conjugate addition of pentylmagnesium bromide to ethyl 2-cyan0-3-pentyl-Z-octenoate. The extension of this base- catalyzed autoxidation to ethyl 2-cyano 3, 3-disubstituted carboxylates, 2, in polar solvents was found to afford good yields of 2-oxo esters, 3. It was shown that the nitrile group of 2 is ...
