Silver(I)-catalyzed reaction of terminal alkynes with (diacetoxyiodo)benzene: a convenient, efficient and clean preparation of α-acetoxy ketones

Silver(I)-catalyzed reaction of terminal alkynes with (diacetoxyiodo)benzene in wet acetonitrile at room temperature afforded the corresponding α-acetoxy ketones in 55–93% yields. The salient features of this reaction are the effective utilization of PhI(OAc)2, high chemoselectivity, excellent yields, mild reaction conditions and the experimental simplicity. A plausible mechanism has been proposed based on the experimental results.