In the presence of radical scavengers, silyl enol ether 1a gave 5a in yields similar to those obtained in their absence (Scheme 3c and 3d vs Scheme 2), suggesting a non-radical pathway. We then tested the selectivity of the reaction towards the formation of a-bromoketone 9 by adding OH -, as another potential nucleophile, to the reaction mixture (Scheme 3e). It has been shown before that water is able to displace I(III) in the enolonium intermediates, and form a-hydroxy ketones (i.e. 10). However, when adding a large excess of OH -, under otherwise identical reactions conditions, only a-bromoketone 9 was formed in 99% yield.