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Billionaires are used to getting their way and if H. Ross Perot can get on enough state ballots as an independent he could win, despite the track records of previous independents who faded in the fall. At the least, he may well throw the election into the House of Representatives. So far the main plank in the billionaire's platform is his startling proposal to deprive Congress of its first and foremost constitutional power, to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises. Perot's prospective candidacy appears to be appealing to others.

A review of reactions scaled in the GMP facilities at the Pfizer-Groton site was undertaken. Reactions were categorized into one of seven categories:  carbon−carbon bond formation, carboxylic acid derivative interconversion, carbon−nitrogen bond formation, carbon−oxygen bond formation, red-ox, salt formation/resolution, and other. Reactions scaled from 1997 to 2002 were compared to chemistry scaled from 1985 to 1996 to look for changes in the nature of chemistry being scaled between the two time periods. Reactions were further subcategorized within those categories, and some interesting trends were noted.

β-Ionylideneacetaldehyde (1) is an important intermediate in the synthesis of retinoids and carotenoids.1 For our program of synthesis of biologically active retinoids we needed an efficient synthesis of trans, trans-1, both in terms of stereochemical purity and overall yield. Although numerous methods have been devised for the synthesis of 11, none of these fit our criteria.