• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.1012-1020
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• 2009

We developed an efficient three-step synthetic protocol of $\gamma$-hydroxybutenolides starting from the Baylis-Hillman adducts: (i) bromination, (ii) Barbier reaction and (iii) one-pot $K_2CO_3$-mediated synthesis of $\gamma$-hydroxybutenolides. In addition, we showed the synthetic applicability of butenolides including self-dimerization, conjugate addition reaction, and alkylations.