The Patemo-Biichi reaction1 represents a direct avenue to oxetanes that will accommodate a variety of olefin and aldehyde substitution patterns. The presence of a 3-acetoxyoxetane subunit in taxol1 2 raised the prospect of using a Patemo-Biichi reaction of enol acetates and benzaldehydes to introduce this particular moiety. The success of the methodology would depend upon the yields in the photoaddition reaction as well as a subsequent oxidative degradation3 of the aromatic ring and decarboxylation.4 Prior reports of the photoaddition of enol ethers,5 trimethylsilyl enol ethers,6 methyl vinyl sulfides,7 and 2,3-dihydrooxazoles8 with aldehydes suggested that the regiochemistry desired in the taxol situation was favored, but precedent for the photoaddition of enol acetates was lacking. We report a study of the photoaddition of isopropenyl acetate (1), 1-acetoxycyclododecene9
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