Facile syntheses of 2,2-dimethyl-6-(2-oxoalkyl)-1,3-dioxin-4-ones and the corresponding 6-substituted 4-hydroxy-2-pyrones.

A variety of 2,2-dimethyl-6-(2-oxoalkyl)-1,3-dioxin-4-ones 5a-l and the corresponding 6-substituted 4-hydroxy-2-pyrones 3a-l were prepared in high yields under mild reaction conditions by the reaction of 2,2,6-trimethyl-1,3-dioxin-4-one 4 with 1-acylbenzotriazoles 9 in the presence of LDA followed by thermal cyclization of 5a-l to 3a-l. Synthesis of novel 6-(1-benzoylalkyl)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxin-4-ones 12a-c was achieved by alkylation of dioxinone 5a and their subsequent cyclization gave 5-alkyl-4-hydroxy-2-pyrones 13a-c.