In this Letter, we describe an easy and straightforward strategy for the preparation of acyloins (alpha-hydroxyketones) from Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts.. based on a Curtius rearrangement. Different acyloins were obtained with good overall yield (>40% for three steps). To exemplify the synthetic usefulness of this strategy, total synthesis of (+/-)-bupropion, a dopamine, and nor-epinefrine reuptake inhibitor has been accomplished in eight steps with an overall yield of 25%. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.492337443748