The catalytic tandem oxidation/benzilic ester rearrangement (BER): insights into reaction mechanism and stereoselectivity

This Letter describes an expeditious regiospecific and stereoselective approach to tertiary α-hydroxyesters via the one pot tandem catalytic oxidation/benzilic ester rearrangement of acyclic α-hydroxyketone substrates. The mechanism of this reaction (including the diastereoselectivity) was studied in some detail.