Ru‐Catalyzed O‐H Insertion of Sulfoxonium Ylide and Carboxylic Acid to Synthesize α‐Acyloxy Ketones

A Ru‐catalyzed method is developed for the synthesis of α‐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. Ru‐catalyzed sulfoxonium ylides and carboxylic acids are developed to synthesize α‐acyloxy ketones, and the strategy achieves an excellent selectivity by employing 1,10‐phenanthroline as a ligand to afford the corresponding product in good yields. The reaction reveals that sulfoxonium ylide can serve as carbene precursor and 1 C unit to participate reactions under the transition metal‐catalyzed.