AN IMPROVED PROCEDURE FOR NITRATION OF BENZOCYCLOBUTENE

Abstract Nitration of benzocyclobutene (1) using acetyl nitrate, generated in situ by a continuous process, in the presence of montmorillonite K 10 clay gives 3-nitrobicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-triene (2) in 60% yield which is a two-fold increase over the known methods.