Interrupted Baeyer-Villiger Rearrangement: Building A Stereoelectronic Trap for the Criegee Intermediate.

The instability of hydroxy peroxyesters, the elusive Criegee intermediates of the Baeyer-Villiger rearrangement, can be alleviated by selective deactivation of the stereoelectronic effects that promote the 1,2-alkyl shift. Stable cyclic Criegee intermediates constrained within a five-membered ring can be prepared by mild reduction of the respective hydroperoxy peroxyesters (β-hydroperoxy-β-peroxylactones) which were formed in high yields in reaction of β-ketoesters with BF3 ⋅Et2 O/H2 O2 .