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Not the anticipated β-hydroxycarboxylic acid esters but β-lactones 1 were obtained when ethyl 2-bromo-2-methylpropanoate and ketones were electrolyzed at a sacrificial indium anode. This is the first observation of the formation of β-lactones in the Reformatsky reaction. R1 and R2 can be, for instance, (CH2)5, 2Et, 2nBu, or 2Ph.
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Schick et al. (1993) studied this question.
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