A Facile Access to Polyfunctional Oxygen‐containing Heterocycles via Intramolecularly Formed Protic Oxonium Ylide Trapping Processes

Based on the assumption that intramolecularly formed protic oxonium ylides could be trapped by electrophiles, transition-metal-catalyzed reactions of diazoesters bearing a primary hydroxy group with electron-deficient aldehydes and isatins were examined. Good to high chemo- and diastereoselectivities were achieved with reactions catalyzed by Cu(hfacac)2. The reactions were assumed to occur via tandem intramolecular protic oxonium ylide formation and subsequent aldol-type addition. They not only provided an efficient entry to 3-substituted 1,4-dioxan-2-one heterocycles with at least one quaternary carbon center but also provided experimental evidence for a stepwise pathway for the transition-metal-catalyzed intramolecular O-H insertion of diazo compounds.