Modern synthetic organic chemists strongly desire the ability to produce sophisticated structures in a highly efficient and atom economical manner from simple starting materials.  These types of conversions are often achieved via the assistance of a transition metal catalyst. These catalysts are commonly comprised of Ru, Pt, Pd, and Ni, but the current fashion is to employ gold (typically Au(I) or Au(III)). Gold catalysts are attracting particular attention presumably due to unique quantum (relativistic) properties that enable these types of complexes to provide entry to reactions previously thought to be inaccessible. Numerous reports have shown the utility of gold catalysis, but only a few focus on intermolecular processes involving nucleophilic interception of an intermediate gold carbene. In this report, we envision using the concept of nucleophilic interception to further develop an <i>in situ,</i> domino reaction sequence wherein an initially formed gold carbene intermediate is intercepted by a resident nucleophile leading to the formation of highly desirable structural products. We also hope to leverage our fundamental work to develop methods for gold-catalyzed polymerization reactions.

Employing homogeneous gold catalysis to synthesize complex molecular structures

254th National Meeting (2017)

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