�y��vlog

They form unstable addition products with sodium ethylate or methylate.

It can be prepared by the reduction of phenyl propiolic acid with zinc and acetic acid, by heating benzal malonic acid, by the condensation of ethyl acetate with benzaldehyde in the presence of sodium ethylate or by the so-called “Perkin reaction”; the latter being the method commonly employed.

Normal results as regards acid numbers, on the other hand, are obtained by saponification with sodium ethylate in the cold, the product being digested with the half-saturated solution for 12 hours in a closed flask.

For the saponification we employ a solution of sodium ethylate in the cold.

L. Claisen, whose views are now accepted, studied the reactions of sodium ethylate and showed that if sodium ethylate be used in place of sodium in the above reaction the same result is obtained.