Diverse Pathways in Catalytic Reactions of Propargyl Aryldiazoacetates: Selectivity between Three Reaction Sites.

Three catalyst-dependent divergent reaction pathways for reactions of propargyl aryldiazoacetates are disclosed. Transition metal catalysts including those of rhodium(II), palladium(0 and II), silver(I), mercury(II), copper(I and II), platinum(II), and cationic gold(I) are effective for reactions that proceed through dinitrogen extrusion, carbene/alkyne metathesis, and aromatic substitution to form fused indeno-furanones, and use of tetrakis(acetonitrile)copper(I) provides indeno-furanones in the highest product yields. A Lewis acid catalyzed pathway that forms furan-2-ones is uncovered with FeCl3, ZnBr2, and BF3·Et2O as catalysts that proceed through activation of the aryldiazoacetate ester for arylpropargyl cation dissociation followed by recombination through cation addition to the diazo carbon. Neutral gold catalysts selectively activate the triple bond of propargyl aryldiazoacetates, resulting in the formation of allenic aryldiazoesters that further undergo uncatalyzed rearrangement.