Recent content by brettlawrie

First of all, thank you for your help. I've taken your lead (see attachment) and I am lead to believe that the cis transition state arrangements are not favourable. I am still not precisely sure why though (I have never gotten a good grasp of stability/stereochemistry/whatever word describes...

With regards to Wittig reactions, how does one know whether the cis or trans isomer is favoured? More specifically, can cis-stilbene be prepared in the attached Wittig reaction? Experimentally, the trans isomer was recovered. I realize that trans isomers are generally more stable, but am...