Transition metal-catalyzed divergent synthesis through alternation of the catalyst is appealing, as it provides an operationally simple way to access different valuable products, while using the same reactants as starting materials. Herein, a gold-catalyzed cascade reaction of conjugated diynamides with allylic alcohols is described. By variation of the catalysts, substituted allenes and furans could be obtained selectively. Mechanistic studies indicate that, after the addition of allylic alcohol to gold-activated diynamide, a [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement would take place and lead to the formation of a common reactive intermediate, which would further convert to the final products selectively. Further variation of the structure of diynamides has unveiled an additional reaction sequence involving intramolecular Himbert arene/allene Diels-Alder cycloaddition to afford a series of dearomatized products bearing bicyclo[2,2,2]octadiene core.
Keywords: allylic alcohols; arene/allene cycloaddition; conjugated diynamides; divergent synthesis; gold catalysis.
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