Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt
Process for producing .beta.-carotene, and intermediate compounds useful for the process
 Provided is a novel process for readily producing .beta.-carotene by reacting a sulfone compound represented by the general formula (1), (2) or (3) with an alkali, ##STR1## wherein R represents a phenyl group which may be substituted, R' a protecting group of acetal type and X a halogen atom. 
Kuraray Company Ltd.
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C07C Y02P C07C C07C
additional additional inventional inventional
Hiroshi Kazuo Takashi Toshiki
Fujii Yamamoto Onishi Mori