Gold(I)-catalyzed regioselective cycloisomerizations of furan-ynes have been described. The reaction provides a concise access to stereodefined trisubstituted alkenes by endo cyclization with concomitant 1,5-migration of the furanyl group in the presence of unactivated 3 Å molecular sieves. In the absence of molecular sieves, indene products are generated by exo cyclization, followed by 1,4-furanyl migration/cyclization. The scope for 1,5-migrations can be extended to other heterocycles, such as benzofurans, thiophenes, and pyrroles.

We describe the Suzuki coupling reaction of (E)-(β-trifluoromethyl)vinyldiphenylsulfonium salts with arylboronic acid. The highly efficient and selective reaction provides a useful and mild method for the synthesis of trifluoromethylated alkenes and dienes. Subsequent DFT studies showed that the oxidative addition transition state of the vinyl C–S bond is much more favorable (11.7 kcal mol^–1) than that of the aryl C–S bond.

The mechanism of the chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed Baeyer–Villiger (B–V) reaction of cyclobutanones with hydrogen peroxide was investigated by using a combination of experimental and theoretical methods. Of the two pathways that have been proposed for the present reaction, the pathway involving a peroxyphosphate intermediate is not viable. The reaction progress kinetic analysis indicates that the reaction is partially inhibited by the γ-lactone product. Initial rate measurements suggest that the reaction follows Michaelis–Menten-type kinetics consistent with a bifunctional mechanism in which the catalyst is actively involved in both carbonyl addition and the subsequent rearrangement steps through hydrogen-bonding interactions with the reactants or the intermediate. High-level quantum chemical calculations strongly support a two-step concerted mechanism in which the phosphoric acid activates the reactants or the intermediate in a synergistic manner through partial proton transfer. The catalyst simultaneously acts as a general acid, by increasing the electrophilicity of the carbonyl carbon, increases the nucleophilicity of hydrogen peroxide as a Lewis base in the addition step, and facilitates the dissociation of the OH group from the Criegee intermediate in the rearrangement step. The overall reaction is highly exothermic, and the rearrangement of the Criegee intermediate is the rate-determining step. The observed reactivity of this catalytic B–V reaction also results, in part, from the ring strain in cyclobutanones. The sense of chiral induction is rationalized by the analysis of the relative energies of the competing diastereomeric transition states, in which the steric repulsion between the 3-substituent of the cyclobutanone and the 3- and 3′-substituents of the catalyst, as well as the entropy and solvent effects, are found to be critically important.

FeCl₃⋅6 H₂O- and FeBr₃-catalyzed Prins cyclization/halogenation of alkynyl aldehyde acetals has been realized with acetyl chloride or bromide as halogen source in dichloromethane to afford 2-(1-halobenzylidene or alkylidene)-substituted five-membered carbo- and heterocycles, and thus provides an alternative route for vinylic CCl and CBr bond formation. Five- to eight-membered cyclic enones were efficiently synthesized by FeCl₃⋅6 H₂O-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of alkynyl aldehyde acetals in acetone under mild conditions. An oxocarbonium species generated in situ is proposed to initiate the reaction, and the target products are formed via vinylogous carbenium cation and oxete intermediates according to DFT calculations. Intermolecular reactions of alkynes and aldehyde acetals were also investigated with 20–40 mol % FeCl₃⋅6 H₂O catalyst, and produced α,β-unsaturated enones and chlorinated indene derivatives. The present protocol has applications in the synthesis of carbo-, oxa- and azacycles.

Diarylvinylidenecyclopropanes undergo a novel rearrangement in the presence of the Brønsted acid Tf₂NH (Tf: trifluoromethanesulfonyl) to give the corresponding naphthalene derivatives in good to high yields upon heating, whereas in the presence of the Brønsted acid toluene-4-sulfonic acid (p-TSA), the corresponding triene derivatives are afforded in moderate to good yields under mild conditions. Corresponding mechanistic studies on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) with the Gaussian03 program by using the B3LYP method have revealed that the pK_a value of the Brønsted acid, as well as the entropy and solvent effects, plays a significant role in this reaction; these factors can discriminate the differences in the reactivity and regioselectivity among the Brønsted acids used in this reaction. In the presence of Lewis acid Sn(OTf)₂, a butatrienecyclopane can produce the corresponding ring-opened products in moderate yields.

Cyclic ketones react with (E)-2-nitroallylic acetates in the presence of catalytic pyrrolidine-thiourea, which affords bicyclic skeletons with four or five stereocenters in one single reaction with up to 98 % ee in moderate to high yields. The cooperative effects of both enamine and the Brønsted acid are found to be crucial for the high reactivity and enantioselectivity of this cascade reaction, which is demonstrated by both theoretical calculation and experimental data.