Mercuric acetate reacts with o- and p-nitrostyrenes and with nitrophenylcyclopropanes in methanol or glacial acetic acid to give β- and γ-mercurated nitroderivatives, respectively. In contrast to the nitrostyrenes, mercuration of the corresponding nitrophenylcyclopropanes only occurs in the presence of perchloric acid as catalyst. 2,4-Dinitrophenylcyclopropane does not react with mercuric acetate even