Lutz Preu, Andreas Beißner and Dietrich Moderhack
The scope of the title process has been studied, showing that anions 4′ having R = H, (substituted) Ph and CO2Me react cleanly (and still satisfactorily in the case R = Me), while with R = COMe, COAr and CN extensive decomposition occurs. The experimental findings (rate constants, activation parameters) have been elucidated through PM3 calculations.