Some Aspects of the Willgerodt-Kindler Reaction and Connected Reactions

This review presents a discussion, in near chronological order, of the course of Willgerodt-Kindler reactions that occur under different experimental conditions.It is possible to isolate the various intermediates postulated in our initial working hypotheses of these reactions, allowing us to clarify inter alia the course of the isomerization process.Of note, we show that room temperature reactions follows the same reaction pathway as those synthesized under more severe experimental conditions, and this observation allows us to comprehend the chemism of the initial steps of the process.