Numerous aldehydes and ketones have been combined successfully with sodium acetylide under varying conditions to form acetylenic carbinols. Of the aromatic aldehydes reported2•3 benzaldehyde was the only aromatic aldehyde that gave a good yield of its corresponding acetylenic carbinol.

To account for the reaction of ketones in the Willgerodt reaction, King and McMillan2 proposed the following sequence of steps: ketone -> thioketone -> mercaptan -» olefin -> mercaptan -> etc. To show that these substances could act as intermediates in the reaction, mercaptans and olefins were successfully converted to the corresponding amides by the Willgerodt procedure. However, no thioketone has been shown to undergo a Willgerodt reaction. King and McMillan2 found that "duplodithioacetone" was converted to propionamide when heated with ammonium polysulfide, but "duplodithioacetone" is neither dithioacetone nor trithioacetone.3