A new pathway for the reaction involving an α‐haloketone and a dialkyl phosphite has been suggested, It offers a highly stereoselective synthetic procedure leading to β‐haloenol phosphates in one‐pot reactions that take place in good yields. However, normal Pudovik reaction products were formed when the reaction was carried out using a relatively small amount of base. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 10: 55–59, 1999