reactivity of achiral and enantiomerically pure acylketene acetals are described. The key reactions of these substrates involve facile conjugate hydroboration and organolithium addition. Enantiomerically pure acylketene acetals were employed to generate a homochiral β-keto ketal through a highly diastereoselective lithium enolate quench. This β-keto ketal, which was also prepared through a desymmetrization