A highly efficient method for the synthesis of versatile cyclopentenones from readily available enynyl acetates via tandem Au(I)-catalyzed 3,3-rearrangement and the Nazarov reaction is developed. Significant substrate flexibility and excellent control of the double bond position in the cyclopentenone ring render this an attractive method for cyclopentenone synthesis.

An extremely convenient method for deprotection of acetals and ketals catalyzed by molecular iodine (10 mol %) in acetone is reported. The protocol achieved the deprotection of acyclic or cyclic O,O-acetals and O,O-ketals in excellent yields within a few minutes under neutral conditions. The double bond, hydroxyl group, and acetate group remained unchanged, and the highly acid-sensitive furyl, tert-butyl ethers, and ketone-oxime stayed intact under these conditions.

A highly efficient synthesis of alpha-alkylidene or benzylidene-beta-diketones from readily available propargylic esters has been developed. The proposed key transformation is a novel intramolecular acyl migration to nucleophilic AuIII-C(sp2) bonds. Noteworthy features of this method are its efficiency and stereoselectivity. The yields of this reaction were mostly close to quantitative, and high to excellent stereoselectivities were observed in the cases of dienyl beta-diketones.

In classical transition state theory, a transition state is connected to its reactant(s) and product(s). Recently, chemists found that reaction pathways may bifurcate after a transition state, leading to two or more sets of products. The product distribution for such a reaction containing a bifurcating potential energy surface (bPES) is usually determined by the shape of the bPES and dynamic factors. However, if the bPES leads to two intermediates (other than two products), which then undergo further transformations to give different final products, what factors control the selectivity is still not fully examined. This missing link in transition state theory is founded in the present study. Aiming to develop new methods for the synthesis of azocinoindole derivatives, we found that 2-propargyl-β-tetrahydrocarbolines can undergo ring expansion and spirocyclization under gold catalysis. DFT study revealed that the reaction starts with the intramolecular cyclization of the gold-activated 2-propargyl-β-tetrahydrocarboline with a bPES. The cyclization intermediates can not only interconvert into each other via a [1,5]-alkenyl shift, but also undergo ring expansion (through fragmentation/protodeauration mechanism) or spirocyclization (through deprotonation/protodeauration mechanism). Detailed analysis of the complex PESs for substrates with different substituents indicated that the reaction selectivity is under dynamic control if the interconversion of the intermediates is slower than the ring expansion and spirocyclization processes. Otherwise, the chemical outcome is under typical kinetic control and determined by the relative preference of ring expansion versus spirocyclization pathways. The present study may enrich chemist's understanding of the determinants for selectivities on bPESs.

An asymmetric cascade annulation between 2-hydroxystyrenes and 2-alkynylbenaldehyes or 1-(2-alkynylphenyl)ketones has been established with good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99.5% ee), on the basis of an enantioselective oxa-Diels-Alder cycloaddition of in situ generated metallo-isochromenylium intermediates, by cooperative binary catalysis of Pd(OAc)2 and (S)-Trip. The developed methodology is workable for a broad spectrum of substrates and shows great efficiency in establishing dense multiple chiral centers including quaternary carbons of variable bridged ring systems. The mechanism study suggests that (S)-Trip plays multiple roles in assembling the reactants and controlling the stereoselectivity.