Wittig reactions sodium hexamethyldisilazide

When one of the reacting partners in the Wittig-Horner reaction, either the phosphine oxide or the carbonyl compound, has a double bond, the product is a diene. The Wittig-Horner reaction was utilized by Smith and coworkers in the total synthesis of milbemycin (equation 98)170. They found that when sodium hexamethyldisilazide was employed as a base, the desired E-diene selectivity is high (85%). Some examples from the literature where the Wittig-Horner reaction has been utilized for the construction of E-double bonds present in dienes and polyenes are given in Table 19171. 

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