I recently came across a problem of choosing which product to be made in case of pyrolytic elimination reactions. I was taught that usually Hoffman products are formed in such reactions. For e.g.:
In this reaction, I sort of got the chills in my spine to make Zaitsev product because of the aromaticity obtained in the product but of course I obeyed the Hoffman rule that was taught to me and made the open ring structure of the 5 member ring of nitrogen connected at bottom. The answer is of course what I have illustrated but I need to understand when do we decide these. Another example is:
Can someone please explain how do I go about this i.e. how do I know when it is Hoffman and when it is Zaitsev?