Carbanions from cyanoacetic ester

The carbanion derived from dimethyl malonate reacts with the cyclic nitro compounds 422 of ring size 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12 to afford the corresponding esters 423. Acyclic allylic nitro compounds 424 (R = Me, CH2OAC or CC Et) are attacked by bulky nucleophiles, such as dimethyl malonate anion, mainly at the terminal primary carbon atom to give rearranged products 425, whereas smaller nucleophiles, e.g. the anion derived from methyl cyanoacetate, react at the tertiary carbon atom to yield 426409a 453 455. 

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