MgBr2·OEt2-Promoted Coupling of Ketones and Activated Acyl Donors via Soft Enolization: A Practical Synthesis of 1,3-Diketones

Ketones undergo soft enolization and acylation on treatment with MgBr 2 ·OEt 2 , I-Pr 2 NEt, and various acylating agents to give 1,3-diketones. The process is particularly efficient for N-acylbenzotriazoles and O-pentafluorophenyl esters, and, in these cases, is conducted using untreated, reagent grade CH 2 Cl 2 open to the air, thus providing an exceptionally simple approach to the synthesis of this important class of compounds.