The thermal rearrangement of vinylcyclobutenones has become established as a reliable method of preparing hydroquinones owing, in large part, to the pioneering work of the research groups of Moore and Liebeskind.[1–3] The basic reaction, 1→ 2, extends to various aryl-and heteroaryl cyclobutenones,[3–5] and has been incorporated into a number of more- elaborate domino sequences.[1, 6] From a synthetic perspective, the rearrangement has ...
