3 _ Stimulus for the present line of research was the observation that attempts to produce 2- methyl-1-diazopropene [g, R3=(CH3) 2] by reaction of acetone with 1.1 eq. each of 1 and potassium t-butoxide in anhydrous THF gave the enol ether 4 (Figure) in 15% yield. 3 A mechanistic rationale for the formation of 4, via either thermal (path A) or solvent-assisted (path B) decomposition of the diazo compound 2 [R2=(CH3) 3] suggested that ...
