Reading a scheme

Start with the conditions. A strong base, an acid, a metal, a peroxide: the reagent line narrows the reaction type before you look at a single bond.
Find what changed. Compare starting material and product atom by atom: which bond formed, which left, and whether the carbon count grew.
Substitution vs. elimination vs. addition is a bookkeeping question: same number of σ bonds, fewer, or more.
Mechanism follows structure. A tertiary or benzylic center with a weak nucleophile points to a cation; a primary center with a strong nucleophile does not.
Every example here is a real reaction with a real citation. The yields are the authors’ own.

Enol ester formation

2 real reactions from the literature, on β-keto esters and five-membered cyclic ketones. Each scheme shows starting materials, conditions and products, with the yield and reference where the source reports them.

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Enol ester formation: isopropenyl acetate (an enol ester) and methyl 1-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2-carboxylate (a β-keto ester) with thermodynamic gives methyl 3-(acetyloxy)-1H-indene-2-carboxylate (the enol ester).

Enol ester formationRealOChem worksheet
Enol ester formation: 2-pent-2-ynylcyclopentan-1-one (a five-membered cyclic ketone) with thermodynamic; temp; temp = 100 C; 50% gives (2-pent-2-ynylcyclopenten-1-yl) acetate (the enol ester) and the enol ester.

Enol ester formationRealOChem worksheet