New cyclizations via catalytic ruthenium vinylidenes

Varela, Jesús A.; González-Rodríguez, Carlos; Rubín, Silvia G.; Castedo, Luis; Saá, Carlos

doi:10.1351/pac200880051167

Pure Appl. Chem., 2008, Vol. 80, No. 5, pp. 1167-1177

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/pac200880051167

New cyclizations via catalytic ruthenium vinylidenes

Jesús A. Varela, Carlos González-Rodríguez, Silvia G. Rubín, Luis Castedo and Carlos Saá

Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Abstract: New carbocyclizations that proceed via catalytic metal-vinylidenes are presented. Metal-vinylidene catalytic species, which are easily accessible from terminal alkynes and catalytic amounts of transition-metal complexes, can be involved either in pericyclic reactions or in tandem processes triggered by nucleophilic attack at the electrophilic position of the vinylidene. In both cases, a wide variety of valuable cyclic compounds are easily accessible. Some recent carbocyclizations will be described.