Eloisa Jimenez-Nunez

Gold-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of enynes: a mechanistic perspective.

Gold salts and complexes have emerged in the past few years as the most powerful catalysts for electrophilic activation of alkynes toward a variety of nucleophiles under homogeneous conditions. In a simplified form, nucleophilic attack on the [AuL]-activated alkyne proceeds via π complexes 1 to give trans-alkenyl gold complexes of type 2 as intermediates (Scheme 1). This type of coordination is also a common theme in gold-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of enynes, in which the alkene function acts as the nucleophile. In the reaction of enynes with complexes of other transition metals, an Alder-ene cycloisomerization can take place by simultaneous coordination of the alkyne and the alkene to the metal followed by an oxidative cyclometalation. In contrast, this process does not occur for gold(I) since oxidative addition processes are not facile for this metal. 6 In addition, the [AuL] fragment, which is isolobal to H and HgL, adopts a linear coordination and binds to either the alkene or the alkyne. Thus, cycloisomerizations of enynes catalyzed by gold proceed by an initial coordination of the metal to the alkyne, and as illustrated in Scheme 2, the resulting complex 3 reacts with the alkene by either the 5-exo-dig or 6-endo-dig pathway to form the exoor endocyclopropyl gold carbene 4 or 5, respectively, as has been established with other electrophilic transition-metal complexes or halides MXn as catalysts. The proposed involvement of cyclopropyl metal carbenes of type 4 in the electrophilic activation of enynes by transition metals was first substantiated in reactions catalyzed by Pd(II), in which the initially formed cyclopropyl palladium carbenes undergo [4 + 2] cycloaddition with the double bond of the conjugate enyne. Strong evidence for the existence of cyclopropyl metal carbenes as intermediates was also obtained in the reaction of enynes bearing additional double bonds at the alkenyl chain with Ru(II) and Pt(II) catalysts. In these reactions, the cyclopropyl metal carbenes are trapped intramolecularly by the terminal alkene to give tetracycles containing two cyclopropanes. Gold(I) complexes usually surpass the reactivity shown by Pt(II) and other electrophilic metal salts and complexes for the activation of enynes. They are highly reactive yet uniquely selective Lewis acids that have a high affinity for π bonds. This high π-acidity is linked to relativistic effects, which reach a maximum in the periodic table with gold. However, on occasion, the stronger Lewis acidity of gold complexes can be detrimental in terms of selectivity and because of their low tolerance to certain functional groups. In these instances, the less-strongly Lewis acidic Pt(II) complexes could be the catalysts of choice. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: aechavarren@ iciq.es. † Additional affiliation: Departamento de Quı́mica Orgánica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Scheme 1 Chem. Rev. 2008, 108, 3326–3350 3326

Molecular diversity through gold catalysis with alkynes

In this feature article we cover most recent efforts in gold-catalysed transformations, highlighting the wide molecular diversity that can be achieved, in particular with regard to the formation of C-C bonds. Mechanistic interpretations of some cyclisations are based on our own work on the skeletal rearrangement of 1,6-enynes.