B. Gabriele et al., STEREOSELECTIVE SYNTHESIS OF BETA-LACTONES CONTAINING ALPHA-Z-ALKOXYCARBONYLMETHYLENE CHAINS BY PALLADIUM-CATALYZED OXIDATIVE CARBONYLATIONOF TERTIARY ALPHA-HYDROXYALKYNES, Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications, (12), 1994, pp. 1429-1430
Tertiary alpha-hydroxyalkynes undergo oxidative carbonylation in alcoh
ols in the presence of catalytic amounts of Pdl(2)-Kl to give beta-lac
tones derived from alkoxycarbonylation at the terminal carbon of the a
lkyne and cis-carbonylation at the internal carbon, followed by carbon
yl trapping by the tertiary hydroxy group.