Ru-Catalyzed O-H Insertion of Sulfoxonium Ylide and Carboxylic Acid to Synthesize alpha-Acyloxy Ketones

A Ru-catalyzed method is developed for the synthesis of alpha-acyloxy ketones from sulfoxonium ylide and carboxylic acid. The strategy achieves an excellent selectivity in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline as ligand to afford the corresponding product in good yields under simple conditions. The reaction is believed to provide an alternative method to generate ester compounds.