[lew9tc]

Is it possible to synthesis diphenylacetylene from cis-stilbene?  I understand that through bromination of cis-stilbene you get a racemic mixture of stilbene dibromide, but can you then induce a double dehydrohalogentation to get diphenylactylene simply by treating with a strong base (such as KOH)?

[AWK]

Synthesis from trans-stilbene, see
Organic Syntheses, Coll. Vol. 3, p.350; Vol. 22, p.50
http://www.orgsyn.org/