Abstract

The vinyl chloride group of the title compound can be reduced to the enamide by using sodium metal. The enamide reacts with diborane or mercuric acetate to place a functional group at C7. The vinyl chloride is stable to hydrolysis under a variety of mild conditions but reacts with alkoxides under reflux to form a 6,7-dialkoxy derivative. A small amount of a dimer was obtained from the reaction of a mixture of unsaturated chlorocaprolactams with hydroxide.