Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has gained prominence as a solvent of choice in recent years due to ita unique structural features and practical Earlier work from our laboratory has shown that there is a considerable rate enhancement (by a factor of 2-2.5) of the rearrangement of aryl propargyl ethers in PEG-200 as compared to that in N, N-diethyla~~ iline.~ Also, a detailed study of the rearrangement of 1, 4-bis (aryloxy)-2-butynes in PEG-200 indicated a ...