I've ipotized a new way for making A:
According to
Carey Sundberg, 4th ed. Plenum Press, page 196 § 4.3:
The nucleophile that are used for synthetic purposes include water, alcohols, carboxylate ions, hydroperoxides, amines, and nitriles
So I've thinked:
If I use Hg2+ salt and ammonia soln. or RNH2, I could make A directly from allylbenzene.
A possible pathway is described in the Hg_new.gif on
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/prayother
What do you think about this?
I'll search for refs.
Just A Touch Of Mojo Hand