Talk:Willgerodt rearrangement

FYI, a few arrows in the Willgerodt-Kindler reaction mechanism are wrong. On intermediate 5, a simple deprotonation generates a zwitterionic tautomer of 7. Hydride formation does not generate 6 and is incorrect in any case. OrganicReactions (talk) 20:03, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

I concur, if the point of the article is to teach then it is very very important to be careful with mechanism and the formalism that is commonly practiced. As drawn the arrows imply that electrons flow out of the electron poor iminium in intermediate 5 to form the electron rich thiol enolate via a hydride as a leaving group. This simply does not happen. Several mystery arrows come into various intermediates, perhaps to imply a base attack however as drawn they are not attached to anything that could conceivably donate electrons. I fully appreciate the effort to put forth information in Wikipedia and my students frequently use it as a resource, it would strengthen this article and others like it if these mistakes were corrected when peers point out errors.DrRerNatDHW (talk) 12:10, 8 January 2012 (UTC)


 * The new image has a lot less detail, will offend less people.V8rik (talk) 22:10, 8 January 2012 (UTC)