“…Difficulties (I) CH3CH=CHCH=CHCHO,hexadienal (II) CH3CH=CHCH=CHCH=CHCHO,octatrienal (III) CH3CH=CHCH=CHCH=CHCH=CHCHO,decatetraenal CHCH=CHCH=CHCHO, eicosanonaenal encountered with pure crotonaldehyde led to the discovery that secondary amines themselves are not the catalyst proper in these condensations, but that they must first form salts with the traces of crotonic acid usually present in crotonaldehyde (59). To achieve uniform results the addition of acetic acid has become customary (20,62,87). Cyclization occurs as an undesirable side reaction, resulting in the formation of dihydro-o-tolualdehyde (IX) (5,20).…”