Nucleophilic cleavage of lactones and esters with zinc selenolates prepared from diselenides in the presence of Zn/AlCl3

The utility of zinc selenolates for effecting nucleophilic cleavage of simple lactones and esters has been investigated. When zinc selenolate generated via Zn/AlCl3-promoted cleavage of diselenides was reacted with simple lactones and esters, efficient nucleophilic alkyl-oxygen bond cleavage proceeded generating the corresponding carboxylic acids in moderate to excellent yields.