(1) This work u-as presented before the Division of Or-ganic Chemistry at the 139th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, St. Louis, Mo., March 27, 1961.(2) H. Modeen, Ber., 27,(Referate) 261 (1894). this reaction to be more complex and a study of it was initiated using a number of a-cyano esters, I, ethyl cyanoacetate (R= H), ethyl a-cyano-@- methylvalerate (R= sec-butyl), ethyl a-cyano-acyclohexylacetate (R= cyclohexyl) and a- ...