Transition‐Metal‐Free Synthesis of Aryl‐Substituted <i>tert</i>‐Butyl Ynol Ethers through Addition/Elimination Substitution at an sp Centre

Abstract

Nucleophilic attack of an alkoxide on an alkynyl sulfonamide leads to displacement of the sulfonamide at the sp centre and isolation of the ynol ether in good yield in a single operation (see scheme). The mechanistic pathway has been probed by the use of coordinating additives, 13C-labelling experiments and ab initio calculations, which indicated that an addition/elimination mechanism is in operation. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.