Claisen acylations and carbethoxylations of ketones and esters to form 8-diketones, 8-keto esters and substituted malonic esters have generally been effected by means of sodium alkoxides, sodium or sodium amide. 2 Except in acylations with especially reactive esters like ethyl oxalate or ethyl formate, the usefulness of sodium alkoxides is limited since these reagents are often not sufficiently strong bases to produce satisfactory yields. Sodium ...
