New routes to transform donor–acceptor cyclopropanes in the presence of Lewis acids have been found. The reaction of dimethyl 2-phenylcyclopropan-1, 1-dicarboxylate, a typical representative of this class of compounds, with an equimolar amount of anhydrous GaCl3 gives, depending on the reaction time,(2-phenylethylidene) malonate or styrylmalonate after hydrolysis, whereas in the presence of 15–20mol% GaCl3 the starting cyclopropane ...
[Chagarovskiy, Alexey O.; Ivanova, Olga A.; Rakhmankulov, Eduard R.; Budynina, Ekaterina M.; Trushkov, Igor V.; Melnikov, Mikhail Ya. Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis, 2010 , vol. 352, # 18 p. 3179 - 3184]