Journal of the American Chemical Society 2009-01-21

[(NHC)Au(I)]-catalyzed acid-free alkyne hydration at part-per-million catalyst loadings.

Nicolas Marion, Rubén S Ramón, Steven P Nolan

Index: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131 , 448, (2009)

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Abstract

A highly efficient [(NHC)Au(I)]-based (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) catalytic system for the hydration of an array of alkynes that operates under acid-free conditions and at very low catalyst loadings (typically 50-100 ppm and as low as 10 ppm) was developed. Terminal and internal alkynes possessing any combination of alkyl and aryl substituents (alkyl/H, aryl/H, alkyl/alkyl, alkyl/aryl, and aryl/aryl) were found suitable substrates in the present catalytic system.