A drastic deviation from the usually accepted reaction path was observed when oxidation of olefins was carried out in acetic acid with selenium dioxide in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid. Oxidation of cyclohexene gave a mixture of cis-and trans-1, 2- diacetoxycyclohexane. It was shown that in the oxidation of cyclohexene the organoselenium intermediate which produced 3-acetoxy-1-cyclohexene on pyrolysis, is ...
