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The DeMayo reaction is a 
The net effect is to add the two carbon atoms in the C=C double bond between the two carbonyl groups of the diketone. It is thus useful in syntheses both as a relatively selective way to join two parts of a molecule and as a way to apply the more developed chemistry of 1,3-diketone synthesis to 1,5-diketones. The first part is a +2
photochemical reaction Organic photochemistry encompasses organic reactions that are induced by the action of light. The absorption of ultraviolet light by organic molecules often leads to reactions. In the earliest days, sunlight was employed, while in more modern times ...
in which the enol
In organic chemistry, alkenols (shortened to enols) are a type of reactive structure or intermediate in organic chemistry that is represented as an alkene (olefin) with a hydroxyl group attached to one end of the alkene double bond (). The te ...
of a 1,3-diketone
In organic chemistry, a dicarbonyl is a molecule containing two carbonyl () groups. Although this term could refer to any organic compound containing two carbonyl groups, it is used more specifically to describe molecules in which both carbonyls ...
reacts with an alkene
In organic chemistry, an alkene is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond.
Alkene is often used as synonym of olefin, that is, any hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds.H. Stephen Stoker (2015): General, Organic, an ...
(or another species with a C=C bond) and the resulting cyclobutane
Cyclobutane is a cycloalkane and organic compound with the formula (CH2)4. Cyclobutane is a colourless gas and commercially available as a liquefied gas. Derivatives of cyclobutane are called cyclobutanes. Cyclobutane itself is of no commercia ...
ring undergoes a retro-aldol reaction
The aldol reaction is a means of forming carbon–carbon bonds in organic chemistry.
Discovered independently by the Russian chemist Alexander Borodin in 1869 and by the French chemist Charles-Adolphe Wurtz in 1872, the reaction combines two c ...
to yield a 1,5-diketone:
The net effect is to add the two carbon atoms in the C=C double bond between the two carbonyl groups of the diketone. It is thus useful in syntheses both as a relatively selective way to join two parts of a molecule and as a way to apply the more developed chemistry of 1,3-diketone synthesis to 1,5-diketones. The first part is a +2cycloaddition
In organic chemistry, a cycloaddition is a chemical reaction in which "two or more unsaturated molecules (or parts of the same molecule) combine with the formation of a cyclic adduct in which there is a net reduction of the bond multiplicity". ...
. The ensuing retro-aldol cleavage is favored by the relative instability of the cyclobutane ring.
References
{{Reflist Organic reactions Name reactions