I was a long time ago since I tested the procedure on Rh's page, and I am currently in the need of some phenyl-2-propanone analogues, I wanted to re-evaluate the applicability of the method.
Substances: 32.6 g 1-phenyl-2-nitropropene (recrystallized from toluene), 100 g tin(II) chloride dihydrate, water and hydrochloric acid.
I allowed hydrolysis of the ketoxime for ca 1.5 h at 85-90°C. The reaction mixture was steam distilled to yield a yellow oil. The distillate was extracted with DCM and the combined organic phases washed with water. It is claimed that this procedure yields a reasonably pure product. On this, a little bit of comment...
For the most amongst us, this oil indeed is pure enough. However, when washing the organic phase with aqueous NaOH instead of water, a discoloured aqueous phase is noticed. Some chromatography showed me that there was some benzyl alcohol present. Also, the "purified" oil contained some benzaldehyde (ca 5%). Depending on what the purposes are of the P2P, benzaldehydes are an interfering factor (reductive amination).