In this virtual lab exercise, multiple products were obtained, and distillation was performed to try to isolate only one of those products. The products that were obtained were methyl 3-oxopentanoate, methyl acetylacetanoate, methyl 2-methyl-3-oxobutanoate, and methyl 2-methyl-3-oxopentanoate

1. Explain why all of these products are obtained, referring to your answer to Analysis Question 1 as part of your explanation. In question 1, the answer was sodium ethoxide being a strong choice for deprotonation of the alpha hydrogen of the ester.

2. Propose a modification to the procedure so that only one major product would form.