Acetoacetic Ester Synthesis

[Toadesque]

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I'm sort of confused about this.

Chad shows the reagents as

1. NaOEt
2. RBr
3. H30+, heat

But on Destroyer (2010 edition #73) for some reason there is a step where a base is used for Ester Hydrolysis prior to protonation and it pulls off the C2H5 group.

Which is the correct way to do this type of problem?

 

[starnova]

good question
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Acetoacetic_ester_synthesis.png
product 4 only