In the world of organic synthesis, constructing complex heterocyclic rings often requires elegant rearrangement reactions. Among the most useful for medicinal chemists and natural product researchers is the Baker-Venkataraman Rearrangement . This reaction is not just a textbook curiosity; it is a fundamental gateway to synthesizing flavones and chromones , structures found abundantly in nature with significant biological activities. What is the Baker-Venkataraman Rearrangement? At its core, the Baker-Venkataraman rearrangement is a base-catalyzed transformation of 2'-acetoxyacetophenones (or generally, o-acyloxyketones) into 1,3-diketones (specifically, o-hydroxydibenzoylmethanes). It is essentially an intramolecular Claisen condensation . While a standard Claisen condensation involves two separate ester molecules, this rearrangement happens within a single molecule, driven by the proximity of the reacting groups. The General Reaction Scheme The starting material is usually prepa...