The unusual formation of 1‐acyl‐1,2‐dihydro‐3H‐pyrazol‐3‐ones starting from 3‐acyloxypyrazoles by Fries‐type rearrangement is described. Under normal conditions, acylation of 2,4‐dihydro‐3H‐pyrazol‐3‐ones 1 and 2 with acid chlorides or anhydrides in the presence of triethylamine gave the corresponding 3‐acyloxypyrazoles 3a‐f and 4a‐f . Treatment of 3a‐c and 4a‐f with Lewis acid, e.g. titanium(IV) chloride and tin(IV) chloride, caused migration of acyl groups to afford the corresponding 1‐acyl‐1,2‐dihydro‐3H‐pyrazol‐3‐ones 5a‐c and 6a‐f . Interestingly, the reactions of 3‐acyloxypyrazoles 3e and 3f with tin(IV) chloride provided the corresponding tin(IV) complexes 8e and 8f .
