The stepwise synthesis of specifically substituted trialkyl-3,4-dihydro-l (2H >naphthalenones (1-tetralones), the corresponding naphthalenes, and partially hydrogenated derivatives, several having the cadalene-type 1,4,6 substitution, has been reexamined. Individual steps have been improved and new approaches with fewer steps and higher overall yields have been devised. Syntheses utilizing lactones in Friedel-Crafts reactions were also carried out. These latter Friedel-Crafts reactions are responsible for rearrangements during tetralone syntheses which were previously attributed to polyphosphoric acid during cyclization.The synthesis of cadalene (1) became important to us as a route to pure polyalkylnaphthalenes and as a (1) E.
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