Journal of Organometallic Chemistry
The synthesis and structural characterization of furanyl-1,2,3-triazole
Gold(I) and its application in synthesis of enones from propargylic
esters and alcohols
,
,
, *
Wei Yao a b, Yilin Zhang c, Xiaqing Xu d, Yongchun Yang a, Wei Zeng b **, Dawei Wang a
a Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloid, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122,
China
b Dalian Wondersun Biochemical Technology Co. LTD, Double D4 street, Development zone, Dalian, 116600, Liaoning Province, China
c C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, United States
d Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Suffolk University, Boston, MA, 02108, United States
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 8 July 2019
Received in revised form
16 September 2019
Accepted 18 September 2019
Available online 19 September 2019
Furanyl-1,2,3-triazole gold(I) was designed, synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography, and
was found to exhibit high catalytic activity for the synthesis of enones in good to high yields through a
propargylic ester rearrangement and subsequent hydration. Notably, excellent E/Z selectivity was
observed in these transformations. This catalyst was also effective in catalyzing the rearrangement of
propargylic alcohols and hydration of alkynes. Compared to triazole acetyl gold(III) and other gold
complexes, the furanyl-1,2,3-triazole gold(I) is able to promote these transformations smoothly at a low
temperature with the E isomer of enones as the only product.
Keywords:
Gold
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Enones
Propargylic alcohols
Propargylic ester
Alkynes
1. Introduction
improved stability and activity (Scheme 1) [7]. For example, we
have synthesized the pyridyltriazole gold(III) complex (TA-Py-Au)
In past several decades, gold catalysis has attracted great
attention in organic synthesis for its potential in delivering highly
desirable derivatives from relatively accessible unsaturated com-
pounds [1]. However, gold catalysis remains a highly challenging
field and has received limited development, because of poor sta-
bility and easy decomposition at high temperatures, which usually
yields gold nanoparticles or gold mirrors [2]. To address this limi-
tation, scientists have developed ligands of strong coordination
ability aiming to improve the stability of the gold catalyst [3]. In
particular, Shi et al. found that triazole is able to enhance the sta-
bility [4] and thereby improve the catalytic efficiency of gold(I)
complexes [5], which have found important applications in a va-
riety of organic transformations [6]. Recently, we have developed a
series of triazole coordinated gold catalysts which have exhibited
which exhibits high catalytic activity to produce a-haloenones. We
have also used the high efficiency of triazole to promote hydrogen
borrowing reactions [8]. However, development of innovative li-
gands is highly desirable for the next generation gold catalysts. In
this work, we designed and synthesized a novel triazole gold(I)
complex, which revealed high catalytic activity for the synthesis of
enones in good to high yields through a propargylic ester rear-
rangement and subsequent hydration.
2. Results and discussion
The novel Au complex (FTA-Au) was prepared as follows. First,
2-formylofuran was mixed with MeOH and KOH and stirred
vigorously for 1 h in an ice bath to achieve 2-(2-nitrovinyl)furan L1.
Next, furanyl-1,2,3-triazole L2 was synthesized from L1 and NaN3 in
DMSO using anhydrous aluminum chloride as catalyst (Scheme 2).
Finally, the Au complex was successfully prepared in high yield by
mixing AuPPh3Cl, AgSbF6 and corresponding triazole ligand L2 in a
1:1.1:1.04 M ratio in DCM at RT for 4 h. The exact structure of the
* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
(D. Wang).
0022-328X/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.