See, the carbon is lost as carbon dioxide when that isocyanate intermediate rearranges, beta to the nitrogen—strictly one-carbon shorter. But ayyayo, in my synthesis last week with a tricky cyclic amide? The ring strain made it lose a *different* carbon, gave a rearranged product! So the rule is like our village borewell—reliable until the summer gets too harsh, yaar. My notebook now has a big question mark next to Hofmann's picture.
#exams#study
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