An efficient and mild route to a series of benzo [b] thiophenes, benzo [b] furans, and dibenzofurans through gold-catalyzed benzannulation of 1-heteroarylalka-2, 3-dienyl acetates was developed. Two possible pathways of this reaction involving gold carbene and aryl gold intermediates have been proposed on the basis of mechanistic studies.
[Xiao, Bin; Gong, Tian-Jun; Liu, Zhao-Jing; Liu, Jing-Hui; Luo, Dong-Fen; Xu, Jun; Liu, Lei Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011 , vol. 133, # 24 p. 9250 - 9253]