rhodium, thanks for finally killing that cis-trans folklore, it was rather amusing/frustrating (not an nice emotional mix) seeing it all the time (waste of time me posting against it as you need a name around here for anyone to take notice (this is good though in a way)). Is there any real empirical data on if the trans is more reactive anyway, there seems to be an anomoly here anyway, if longer reaction times in the isomerisation produce more trans this would imply that is was the more stable and therefore less reactive, i am oversimplifying the whole thing really with this though.
Anyway about the KOH w/o reflux, the KOH was ground, but the real killer is that the whole mix required water washing post isomerisation/predistillation b/c if distillation was attempted w/o the washing a foam was produced that allowed the iso to diffuse up the column, over the still head etc etc.
The RuCl3 method is beautiful, i am kicking myself as i used all my RuCl3 but didn't bother trying to filter/reclaim it to see if it worked over and over, I really wasn't expecting it to work that well. is it wactched?
Anyway hope that clears things up (pun) and yes no ketone was produced during any of these isomerisations.
bow wow
ruff ruff
woof woof
wacka wacka wacka