Michael Addition of Soft Carbon Nucleophiles to Alkylidene Isoxazol-5-ones: A Divergent Entry to β‑Branched Carbonyl Compounds

A novel, divergent strategy toward the synthesis of β-branched (and linear) carbonyl compounds is developed by taking advantage of alkylidene isoxazol-5-ones as key building blocks. The yields obtained range from good to excellent, therefore making the described methods attractive options for building such molecules.