Dimethyl sulfoxide causes α, β-dihalopropanoate derivatives to undergo efficient, selective dehydrohalogenation to form α-haloacrylate analogues. A variety of α-halo Michael acceptors were prepared in dimethyl sulfoxide under mild, base-free conditions, including the preparation of α-bromoacrolein and α-chloro-and bromoacrylonitriles. Synthesis of these molecules has been reported in the literature to be difficult. Among all the existing ...
