Gold Catalysis: Evidence for the In‐situ Reduction of Gold(<scp>III</scp>) During the Cyclization of Allenyl Carbinols

Abstract

Abstract Products of an oxidative coupling were obtained in the gold( III )‐catalyzed cycloisomerization of tertiary allenyl carbinols. The absence of reduced organic products and an increase of these coupling products with the amount of gold( III ) catalyst suggests that gold( III ) is reduced in situ, possibly to gold( I ) catalysts which were also shown to be active for these transformations. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)