Diethyl 2,2-bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hy-droxy-benz-yl)malonate

Malonic ester synthesis is a method to obtain α substituted carboxylic acids from ꞵ-diesters such as diethyl malonate and alkyl halides.

Just like β-keto acids—which upon thermal decarboxylation form ketones—β-dicarboxylic acids undergo decarboxylation to generate monocarboxylic acids with the liberation of carbon dioxide.

Enols are a class of compounds where a hydroxyl group is attached to a carbon–carbon double bond, which implies that it is a vinyl alcohol. A carbonyl compound with an α hydrogen undergoes keto–enol tautomerism and remains in equilibrium with its tautomer, the enol form. Usually, the keto tautomer is present in a higher concentration than the enol tautomer due to the higher bond energy of C=O compared to C=C. Moreover, the direction of the keto–enol equilibrium is governed by factors like...

Introduction
A comparison of the enthalpies of hydrogenation of dienes reveals that conjugated dienes release less heat on hydrogenation, rendering them more stable than their nonconjugated analogs.

This lesson delves into the aldol condensation catalyzed by bases, where aldols undergo dehydration to enals. As shown in Figure 1, the β-hydroxy aldehyde formed in a base-catalyzed aldol addition reaction dehydrates on heating to yield an unsaturated carbonyl product, which is commonly referred to as an enal.

Dieckmann cyclization is an intramolecular Claisen condensation of diesters. The reaction occurs in the presence of a base and generates a cyclic β-ketoester as the final product. Commonly, 1, 6 and 1, 7-diesters are preferred substrates for the reaction since the generated five, and six-membered cyclic β-keto esters are particularly more stable.