39I have a bit of a doubt in this question...about whether it follows the regular aldol condensation mechanism. Hydrolysis/heat is the last step of the aldol condensation, after the ring has formed. But here, there will be no -OH for that...O- will reform its pi bond to make C=O by expelling -Cl as a leaving group. So what purpose does hydrolysis and heat have?
For your grouse with LiAlH4, it reduces double bonds only if -Ph is at a position beta to the double bond. By regular aldol, the double bond would be alpha to the phenyl group.
