DBSA-catalyzed hydrolysis of chain α-oxo ketene dithioacetals in water: Aqueous synthesis of β-ketothioesters

In this paper, we wish to report an environment friendly synthetic method for β-ketothioesters from a dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA)-catalyzed hydrolysis reaction of chain α-oxo ketene dithioacetals in water. It was shown that the hydrolysis reaction of chain α-oxo ketene dithioacetals could efficiently occur in the presence of 7.5 mol% DBSA at 100 °C in water, affording the desired β-keto thioesters in excellent yields.