SWIC no longer has plans to distill the anethole ketone (I couldn't resist plugging it into a MM synth, it looks like relatively clean ketone), but NMR will be run on some of the saved oil to get an idea of its purity and confirm identity (not that its identity is in ANY question).
The epoxide was a light yellow oil, it was placed into a small flask fitted with a thermometer, stir bar, and an air condenser... rested on a hotplate (no bath) and heated until the vapours hit well above 210C. It turned out a light brown oil, not viscous at all (no tar), smelling like previously made PMP2P and passing the bisulfite test.
This method is so easy. Screw H2SO4 hydrolysis, this is much easier and gives at least as good results.
The biggest question on my mind is if SWIC did really make asarone epoxide, will this method work... and since I know beta-asarone can be distilled with no vacuum at 300C, my answer has to be yes, yes it can...