Gold-catalyzed domino cyclization-alkynylation reactions with EBX reagents: new insights into the reaction mechanism

Gold-catalyzed domino processes constitute a useful alternative to C–H functionalization for the synthesis of functionalized (hetero)arenes. Herein, we report computational studies on the gold-catalyzed cyclization alkynylation of keto-allenes with ethynylbenziodoxole (EBX) reagents, which identified a gold(I) picolinate complex as the active catalyst, giving the first mechanistic insights into this transformation.