2,3,6,7-Tetramethylnaphthalene (7b) was prepared from 2,3-dimethylsuccinic anhydride (1) and o-xylene in five steps, and the configurations of their intermediates were studied. The higher-melting isomer (threo form) of 1 gave higher-melting products in each step, while the lower-melting isomer (erythro form) of 1 gave lowermelting ones. The configurations of the intermediates were confirmed by the MNR spectral data of tetramethyltetralines (6b). Similar reactions were carried out with 3-benzoyl-2,3-dimethylpropionic acid (2a) in order to learn the configurations of the intermediates. 3-Aroyl-2,3-dimethylpropionic acids (2) gave 2,3-dimethyl-4-aryl-3-buten-4-oildes (3) upon heating with hydrochloric acid.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.