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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Benzocyclobutene-o-xylylene valence tautomerization: Oxygen and sulfur analogs
1Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403.
Abstract:
Gas phase pyrolysis of o-hydroxybenzyl alcohol at 750 degrees C gave o-quinonemethide, which, on isolation, formed a mixture of the corresponding dimer and trimer. However, pyrolysis of o-hydroxy-[1-(4-pentenyl)]benzyl alcohol permitted intramolecular trapping of the intermediate o-quinonemethide, giving 3,4-trimethylene-3,4-dihydrobenzochroman. In contrast, gas phase pyrolysis of o-mercaptobenzyl alcohol readily gave benzo[b]thiete in good yield. The pyrolysis makes this interesting highly strained molecule readily available for study and synthetic application. Preliminary results showed that benzo[b]thiete readily undergoes thermal dimerization, ring-opening reactions with nucleophiles, and a variety of Diels-Alder reactions.
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