“…Initially, we selected phenylpropiolic acid 1a as the model substrate for reaction uncovering and treated with 3.0 equivalents of PhI(OAc) 2 , 2.0 equivalents of H 2 O and 1 milliliter of acetic acid in acetone at 80 °C for 3 h. Surprisingly, the desired 2-oxo-2-phenylethyl acetate 2a was obtained in 48% yield, along with alkynyl-containing α-acyloxy ketone 3a as a byproduct, which was the main product in the work by Chen 16 (Table 1, entry 1). Through investigations of other hypervalent iodine reagents such as bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodobenzene (PIFA), PhIO and 1-hydroxy-1,2-benziodoxol-3(1 H )-one (ABX), we found that PhI(OAc) 2 (DIB) gave the best yield of 94% (see ESI†).…”