A palladium (II)-mediated oxidative cyclization was found to be effective for the preparation of structurally diverse 2, 3-dihydro-4 H-pyran-4-ones from the corresponding β- hydroxyenones. Attractive features of this transformation include the ready availability of the starting enones, the regiocontrol, and the easy access of enantiopure 2, 3-dihydro-4 H-pyran- 4-one from the corresponding enantiopure enone.
