Examination of conjugated ethylenic sulfones, sulfoxides, and esters in Michael-type addition reactions reveals, for the first time, that the size of the heteroatom-attached alkyl group affects the rate of conjugate addition. Molecular modeling strongly suggests that what are generally considered to be “remote” alkyl groups in-CβH CαHS (O) n alkyl systems and- CH2CβH CαHCOO alkyl systems are actually not remote from the β-carbon atom of the ...