Reinvestigation of the synthetic and mechanistic aspects of Mn(III) acetate mediated oxidation of enones

Mn(OAc)3 mediated α′-acetoxylation of α,β-unsaturated enones is reinvestigated from a synthetic and mechanistic point of view and an improved procedure based on the use of acetic acid as a co-solvent is presented. Excellent results were obtained for a variety of structurally diverse and synthetically important enones under the optimized conditions.