Gold(I)-Catalyzed Activation of Alkynes for the Construction of Molecular Complexity

For centuries, gold had been considered a precious, purely decorative inert metal. It was not until 1986 that Ito and Hayashi described the first application of gold(I) in homogeneous catalysis.(1) More than one decade later, the first examples of gold(I) activation of alkynes were reported by Teles(2) and Tanaka,(3) revealing the potential of gold(I) in organic synthesis. Now, gold(I) complexes are the most effective catalysts for the electrophilic activation of alkynes under homogeneous conditions, and a broad range of versatile synthetic tools have been developed for the construction of carbon–carbon or carbon–heteroatom bonds.\nGold(I) complexes selectively activate π-bonds of alkynes in complex molecular…

• MD
  Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

  Awards: CTQ2013-42106-P, SEV-2013-0319
• IC
  Institut Català d'Investigació Química
• ER
  European Research Council

  Award: 321066
• AD
  Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca

  Awards: SGR 818, 2014 SGR 818