α‐β Unsaturated Acylsilanes as Surrogates of Acrolein for Morita–Baylis–Hillman Reactions

α‐β‐unsaturated acylsilanes are excellent substrates for Morita–Baylis–Hillman (MBH) reactions, affording the expected adducts in good to excellent yields. In these derivatives, as well as the corresponding acetates, the acylsilanes can be smoothly transformed into aldehydes by irradiation at 365 nm in acetone or THF/water mixtures. Therefore α‐β unsaturated acylsilanes are very useful surrogates for acrolein in MBH reactions, allowing easy preparation of simple and highly functionalized new building blocks for synthetic applications. A short approach toward new acrolein‐type derivatives, functionalized in position 2 is described. It involves, as the key step, a smooth transformation of acylsilanes into aldehydes by irradiation in water‐organic solvent mixtures. The functionalized enals obtained by this new route appear as versatile building blocks for the preparation of natural products and/or bioactive compounds.