Privilege Ynone Synthesis via Palladium-Catalyzed Alkynylation of “Super-Active Esters”

A neat palladium-catalyzed alkynylation reaction was developed with "super-active ester" as the carbonyl electrophile, which provides a clean and efficient synthetic protocol for a broad array of ynone compounds under CO-, Cu-, ligand-, and base-free conditions. The superior activity of triazine ester was rationalized by the strong electron-withdrawing ability and the unique affinity of triazine on palladium. A mechanistic experiment clearly demonstrated that the N-Pd coordination of triazine plays a crucial role for the highly efficient C-O activation.