α-Acyloxycarbonyl compounds are significant building blocks in synthetic organic chemistry [
1] that can readily transform into various other functional groups, such as imidazoles, furans and oxazoles [
2]. Traditionally,
α-acyloxycarbonyl compounds can be prepared by the substitution reaction between
α-halocarbonyl compounds [
3] and
α-diazoketones [
4] with alkaline carboxylates or by the direct oxidative coupling of carbonyl compounds with toxic heavy metal oxidants suchas Pb(OAc)
4, Tl(OAc)
3andMn(OAc)
3[
5]. Cu-catalysed oxidative coupling of ketones and carboxylic acids with oxygen as the sole oxidant have also been developed over the years [
6]. Recently, to overcome the drawback from the use of toxic reagents or heavy metals, new metal-free oxidative coupling methods have been investigated. In 2005, Ochiai
et al. first reported the iodobenzene-catalysed
α-acyloxylation of ketones with acetic acid [
7]. In 2011, Ishihara and co-workers reported the direct
α-acyloxylation of carbonyl compounds with carboxylic acids under TBHP and TBAI conditions (
Scheme 1a) [
8]. Encouraged by this TBHP/TBAI system, chemists have achieved immense progress in the
α-acyloxylation of ketones by using different substrates and mild oxidants, such as TBHP, K
2S
2O
8 and H
2O
2 [
9]. While each of these approaches represents an important advance towards the objective of a general method for the synthesis of
α-acyloxycarbonyl compounds, each of them still utilizes organic oxidants to complete the C-O coupling process. Although Tomkinson and co-workers have reported the
α-acyloxylation of carbonyl compounds by treating ketones with
N-methyl-
O-benzoylhydroxylamine hydrochloride (
Scheme 1b) [
10], this method still needs a three-step reaction process to synthesize the substrates. Therefore, the development of a facile, environmentally benign and efficient protocol for the preparation of
α-acyloxycarbonyl compounds from simple and readily available starting materials with a broad substrate scope is still highly desirable.