“…Reaction of a variety of aryl-substituted epoxides under these conditions produces the analogous ( E )-2,4-diaryl-2-butenals in moderate to good yields (Table , eq 2). , In each case, the reaction mixture was refluxed until GC indicated no further conversion of arylacetaldehyde to enal, and the yields refer to isolated products, purified by column chromatography. In the presence of 5 equiv of another aldehyde, styrene oxide undergoes a tandem isomerization− crossed aldol condensation reaction to afford the corresponding ( E )-3-substituted 2-phenylpropenal, as shown in eq 3 (Table ). , Under these conditions, the reaction is completely chemoselective for the crossed-condensation product; no self-condensation (i.e., formation of enal 1 ) is observed. The stereochemistry of one of the aldol condensation products (( E )-2,3-diphenylpropenal, 2 ) was determined unambiguously by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study…”