Gallium-Catalyzed Scriabine Reaction.

γ-Aryl enol acetates are easily obtained from diacetoxy alkenes and electron-rich arenes at room temperature using GaCl3 as catalyst. The products can then be converted into β-aryl aldehydes. This method represents the first broadly applicable catalytic version of the Scriabine reaction. DFT computations shed light on the mechanism of this transformation.