Chemoselective one-pot synthesis of beta-keto sulfones from ketones

A practical method to synthesize substituted beta-keto sulfones directly from ketones at room temperature has been developed. This method involves the nucleophilic addition of a base generated enolate to sulfonyl iodide. The reaction shows high chemoselectivity for the addition of a sulfonyl group to an alpha-carbon over a hydroxyl group. In addition, the given protocol provides good to excellent yields of beta-keto sulfones under mild reaction conditions. Moreover, the regiochemical aspect of the protocol is also explored.