“High-surface alkali metals” can be conveniently prepared via deposition of corresponding metals on various supports such as sodium chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene and cross-linked polystyrene from their solutions in liquid ammonia. Alkali metals deposited on polymeric supports can be stored in form of stable suspensions in inert solvents and used for the acyloin and Dieckmann condensations and
Treatment of 2-phenyl-5-hexen-2-ol (1a) with Ru3(CO)12 catalyst and PPh3 ligand in the presence of allyl acetate and K2CO3 in toluene at 160 °C for 20 h under 5 atm of carbon monoxide gave the corresponding oxidative cyclization product, 2,5-dimethyl-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydrofuran (2a), in quantitative yield (>99%).