Bifunctional phosphine ligand-enabled gold-catalyzed direct cycloisomerization of alkynyl ketones to 2,5-disubstituted furans

An efficient synthesis of 2,5-disubstituted furans directly from alkynyl ketones has been developed via tandem gold(i)-catalyzed isomerization of alkynyl ketones to allenyl ketones and cycloisomerization. The key to the success of this chemistry is the use of a biphenyl-2-ylphosphine ligand featuring a critical remote tertiary amino group.