In the course of a number of experiments we have found also that both of the diesters and the monomethyl acid ester undergo rearrangement during hydrolysis in alcohol in which the water content is minimized; but invariably in dilute alcohol containing as much as 40% of water, nearly quantitative yields of dimethylfumaric acid are obtained with no detectable amounts of inversion or addition products. These rearrangements must occur during ...
