ZnO-Catalyzed Transesterification of
β-Keto Esters

Significance

β-Keto esters are among the most important building blocks in organic chemistry. This article describes a very simple and efficient method for the transesterification of these compounds with a variety of alcohols under mild conditions. Sterically hindered alcohols, like 1-adamantanol, as well as sensitive alcohols like propyn-1-ol react equally smoothly, giving high yields of new keto esters, otherwise difficult to prepare.