Cleavage and Rearrangement of Ethers with Bases. I. The Reaction of Dibenzyl and Related Ethers with Potassium t-Butoxide1

DY Curtin, S Leskowitz

Index: Curtin; Leskowitz Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1951 , vol. 73, p. 2630,2632

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Citation Number: 12

Abstract

A re-examinadon of the reported cleavage of dibenzyl ether with potassium hydroxide at 200'has shown that the reaction actually observed was probably the uncatalyzed thermal cleavage. Dibenzyl ether has been shown to react with potassium t-butoxide to give desoxybenzoin, benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol and toluene. It is suggested that. a possible intermediate in this reaction is benzylphenylcarbinol which is shown to give the same ...