Methoxylated stilbenes

Laudanosine contains four methoxyl groups. By exhaustive methyla-tion it yields trimethylamine and laudanosene (tetramethoxy-o-vinyl-stilbene), CH2=CH—C6H2(OCH3)2—CH=CH—C6H3(OCH3),. On oxidation with manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid it furnishes, in addition to the interesting by-product 2 3 6 7-tetramethoxy-9 10-dihydroanthracene, veratraldehyde and 4 5-dimethoxy-2 )3-methyl-... 

The reaction of phenyl-substituted alkenes (2-phenylprop-l-ene, ( )-l-phenylprop-l-ene, 1,1-diphenylethene, 1,1-diphenylprop-l-ene) with F-Teda BF4 (6) in the presence of various alcohols results in the formation of vicinal fluoro alkoxy adducts with Markovnikov-type regioselec-tivity.89,94 The stereochemistry of the fluorination-methoxylation addition reaction is slightly syn predominant in the case of (Z)-stilbene, indene, and dibenzosuberenone, while equal amounts of both diastereoisomers are formed in the case of ( )-l-phenylprop-l-ene and acenaphthylene. 

As a preparative method the direct decarboxylation of olefinic acids is almost limited to the formation of styrenes and stilbenes from substituted cinnamic acids. Thermal decomposition of cinnamic acid gives styrene (41%). The yield is nearly quantitative if the reaction is carried out in quinoline at 220° in the presence of a copper catalyst. The yields of substituted styrenes where the aryl radical contains halo, methoxyl, aldehyde, cyano, and nitro groups are in the range of 30-76%. cis-Stilbene and cis-p-nitrostilbene are prepared in this way from the corresponding a-phenylcinnamic acids (65%). One aliphatic compound worthy of mention is 2-ethoxypropene, prepared by heating -ethoxycro-tonic acid at 165° (91% yield). The mechanism of acid-catalyzed decarboxylations of this type has been studied. Isomerization of the double bond from the a,/5- to the /5, y-position before decarboxylation very likely occurs in many instances. ... 

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