1,4-Diketones have been prepared in one step from methyl ketones and a-bromomethyl ketones under the action of ZnCl 2 ·t-BuOH·Et 2 NR as a condensation agent with moderate to high yields. The mechanistic pathway of the reaction is proposed to go through aldol condensation of ketones followed by 1,3-dehydrobromination of aldol products and cleavage of activated cyclopropyl intermediates.1,4-Diketones are useful synthetic intermediates for the preparation of five-membered carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds. 1 Among the most convenient methods for the synthesis of asymmetrical 1,4-diketones, 2-15 the Michael-Stetter addition of aldehydes to a,b-unsaturated ketones, 6-10 as well as alkylation of stabilized alkaline metal enolates, 10-13 enamines, 13,14 and tin enolates 15 by a-halocarbonyl compounds should be mentioned. However, to our knowledge, the Michael-Stetter method does not give satisfactory results with electron-poor aromatic substrates, 10 and the last three methods are restricted mainly by aromatic or symmetrical aliphatic starting nucleophiles, which should be prepared from the corresponding carbonyl compounds.Recently, we have reported a new simple and regioselective method for the preparation of 1,4-diketones directly from methyl ketones and a-bromo ketones. 16,17 This method is based on the thermodynamically controlled cross aldol condensation of methyl ketones with a-bromo ketones followed by 1,3-dehydrobromination of the aldol products and cleavage of the corresponding intermediate activated cyclopropyl derivatives to 1,4-diketones. Using this approach, we have developed two main preparative procedures. The first is based on the application of two separate stages: aldol condensation of methyl ketones with a-bromo ketones in the presence of magnesium bases, and subsequent conversion of the aldol products into 1,4-diketones by treatment with tertiary amine. 16 In the second procedure, we have succeeded in combining these both stages into one using titanium isopropoxide as the condensation agent. 17In this paper, we propose another simple one step procedure for the preparation of 1,4-diketones 5a-r from methyl ketones 1a-n and a-bromo ketones 2a-g, which gives better results for the synthesis of products with strong a Compounds 3−5: R 1 , R 2 , see Table 1.