A general synthetic route to 2-alkyl-and 2, 2-dialkyl-1, 3-dioxan-5-ones, using tris (hydroxymethyl)-nitromethane as the starting material, is described. Deprotonation of these compounds was studied. It was established that these dioxanones could be deprotonated with LDA; however, the reduction of the carbonyl group via a hydride transfer from LDA, giving the corresponding dioxanols, often competed with deprotonation. The reduction ...
