Abstract In our work on the synthesis of cephalotaxine, we wished to prepare the α-methoxy- αβ-unsaturated aldehyde 2. Since aldehyde 1 was available2, we needed to find an efficient method for carrying what is effectively an aldol condensation between aldehyde 1 and methoxyacetaldehyde. There are relatively few methods reported in the literature for effecting this transformation. 3 We wish to report that the reaction of aldehydes and ...
