1,1-Bis(triflyl)alkadienes are easily prepared by mixing bis(triflyl)methane and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and then used as easy-to-handle building blocks for the preparation of strongly acidic carbon acids. The reaction of these alkadienes with either NaBH₄ or organocerium reagents gave the desired carbon acids through a β-selective nucleophilic addition reaction. Similar reactions of a 1,1-bis(trifyl)alkadiene with sterically bulky iPrMgBr resulted in a δ-selective alkylation instead. The present β-alkylation is the realization of the synthesis of β-branched 1,1-bis(triflyl)alkanes with an acidic CH moiety. Furthermore, when submitted to a Mukaiyama aldol reaction, such β-branched carbon acids had a higher catalyst activity than that of the corresponding nonbranched carbon acids.

By choosing the organic acid catalysts, the reaction of lactones with ketene silyl acetals results in selective formation of simple Mukaiyama aldol adducts or olefination products, which are formed by the subsequent elimination of a silanol from the adducts. That is, in the presence of acidic zwitterions, the reaction of lactones with ketene silyl acetals gives simple Mukaiyama aldol adducts in excellent yields. In contrast, the same reaction in the presence of a carbon acid catalyst brings about the formation of olefination products in a Z-selective manner.