The recently developed synthesis of 4-hydroxyquinolines'" makes use of ethyl orthoformate, an active methylene compound and an aromatic amine as the raw materials. The first two reagents are brought into reaction to give an ethoxymethylene compound which is isolated and allowed to react with the amine, forming a derivative of 0-aminoacrylic acid which can cyclize to a quinoline. It occurred to us that the first two steps of the process might be ...
![3-[(3-chloroanilino)methylidene]pentane-2,4-dione Structure](https://image.chemsrc.com/caspic/360/83507-74-8.png)
