Possibility of applying the electrochemical version of the Horner reaction to the synthesis of unsaturated lactones

Article abstract of DOI:10.1007/BF00699993

Direct electrochemical reduction of specially synthesized 2-<(diethoxyphosphoryl)acetoxy>benzaldehyde on a platinum electrode in an aprotic medium is accompanied by ester bond cleavage, and not formation of coumarin via the phosphate-anion followed by intramolecular Horner cyclization.This could be realized, as a matter of principle, in the presence of an ionol anion (2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenoxide), electrochemically generated in situ.