Can. J. Chem. 65, 1695Chem. 65, (1987. Reaction of tetrahydro-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-3(2H)-furanone (1) with 96 or ca. 100% sulfuric acid or hot polyphosphoric acid followed by aqueous quenching gave the following products: 2-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-4-hexen-3-one (3), 2,4,4-trimethyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one (7), 3,5,5-trimethyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one (8), tetrahydro-3,4,5,5-tetramethylfuran-2,3-diol ( l l ) , 2,5-dihydro-3,5,5-trimethyl-2-methylenefuran (17) and its dimer 20, 2,5-dihydro-2,3,5,5-tetramethyl-2-furanol (IS), 4-hydroxy-2,4-dimethyl-2-pentenoic acid y-lactone (22), 2,3,5-trimethyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one (23), and tetramethylfuran (25). In 96% sulfuric acid the products arise by ring opening, ring opening followed by reclosure to carbocyclic products, methyl migration from C-2 to C-3 to give rearranged furan derivatives, and oxidation. Inca. 100% sulfuric acid or hot polyphosphoric acid further methyl migrations can occur to give 23 and 25.PETER YATES et PATRICK MICHAEL BURKE. Can. J. Chem. 65, 1695Chem. 65, (1987.La reaction de la tetrahydro tCtramCthyl-2,2,5,5 2H-furannone-3 (1) avec de I'acide sufurique a 96 ou t i environ 100% ou avec de l'acide polyphosphorique chaud, suivie par un piCgeage avec de l'eau, conduit aux produits suivants : l'hydroxy-2 dimethyl-2,5 hexkne-4 one-3 (3), la trimithyl-2,4,4 cyclopentkne-2 one-1 (7), la trimethyl-3,5,5 cyclopentkne-2 one-1 (8), le tetrahydro tCtramCthy1-3,4,5,5 furannediol-2,3 (11), le dihydro-2,5 trimethyl-3,5,5 mCthyl6ne-2 furanne (17) There have been many investigations of the reactions of organic compounds with strong acids (3, 4). Several of these have concerned substrates with saturated or unsaturated carbony1 functions. Less attention has been paid to carbonyl compounds containing other functional groups. We report on an investigation of the variety of reactions undergone by the keto ether 1 in strongly acidic media.3 We describe here the isolation and determination of the structures of the products formed in such reactions and plan, in a subsequent publication, to discuss the formation of these products in terms of the site(s) of protonation of 1 and the nature of the cationic intermediates.Compound 1 is readily available from the ynediol 2 (6). Reactions in strongly acidic media followed by aqueous quenching gave mixtures of products whose composition was dependent on both the nature of the medium and the time of reaction. These products were isolated by standard procedures and identified by their spectra (Tables 1 and 2) and by comparison in most cases with independently synthesized samples.Vapor phase chromatographic (vpc) analyses of product mixtures from 96% sulfuric acid showed that one compound was formed rapidly and that the amount of this product reached a maximum after 2 h and then fell to zero after several days. This compound was shown to be 3 by comparison with an authentic