The evolution of carbon monoxide at or slightly above the melting point appears to be a characteristic property of silanecarboxylic and germanecarboxylic acids and esters. This thermal instability and the attendant rearrangement, as exemplified by triphenylsilanecarboxylic acid,* v3 triphenylgermanecarboxylic acid, and their esters, 2 appeared to us to be worthy of investigation. Since the thermal decompositions of the ...
