In most respects, a dioxadiene acts as an aliphatic vinyl ether, but certain of its properties are those of a resonance-stabilized system. 1-6 Prior to the present work, only two methods of synthesizing dioxadienes have been available. Symmetrical tetraphenyldioxadiene6 is prepared readily by condensing benzoin with methanol and heating the adduct in refluxing acetic anhydride. Although this synthesis is convenient, the resulting compounds have all ...