Abstract
Aromatic 1,2-dicarboxylic acids can be obtained by KO2 oxidation of polyaromatics comprising analogs of 1-naphthol, sterically hindered alcohols and ketones, and, perhaps most interestingly, quinones fused on both sides to aromatic rings. A mechanism is presented to rationalize the formation of phthalic acid as the only major product from 5,12-naphthacenequinone.