Catalytic ketone olefination with methyltrioxorhenium

Methyltrioxorhenium (MTO) catalyses the olefination of ketones with ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of triphenylphosphane. Unactivated ketones require the addition of 0.5 equiv of benzoic acid to achieve good yields, while trifluoromethyl ketones require no co-catalyst. The optimised system allows the olefination of aromatic, aliphatic, unsaturated, cyclic and trifluoromethyl ketones.