A suspension of sodium hydride (60% in mineral oil, 77 mg, 1.92 mmol) in DMSO (5.8 mL) was heated for 1 hour at 80° C. and then cooled to rt. ((4′-Chlorobiphenyl-2-yl)methyl)triphenylphosphonium iodide (1.04 g, 1.76 mmol) was added to the suspension and then, after stirring 10 minutes at room temperature, 1,4-cyclohexanedione monoethylene acetal (0.25 g, 1.60 mmol) was added. The reaction mixture was heated at 80° C. for 3 hours. After standing at rt overnight, the reaction mixture was poured into a saturated solution of NaHSO4 and extracted with EtOAc. The organic layers were combined, washed with brine, dried with Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated. The crude was purified by flash chromatography (silica gel, 0% to 30% EtOAc in heptane) to give ((4′-Chlorobiphenyl-2-yl)methylene)-1,4dioxaspiro[4.5]decane (0.28 g, 52%) as a white solid: 1H NMR (400 MHz, CHLOROFORM-d) δ ppm 7.12-7.33 (m, 8 H), 5.98 (s, 1 H), 3.92 (s, 4 H), 2.30-2.36 (m, 2 H), 2.22-2.29 (m, 2 H), 1.62-1.71 (m, 2 H), 1.52-1.58 (m, 2 H).
