Gold-Catalyzed [2,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangement: Reaction of Aryl Allyl Alcohols with Diazo Compounds.

A gold-catalyzed [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement reaction has been developed. The intermolecular rearrangement occurs between in situ generated donor-acceptor gold-carbenes and cinnamyl alcohols via tandem oxonium ylide formation. The desired rearranged product has been accomplished selectively over more conventional O-H insertion, cyclopropanation, cycloaddition, and C-H functionalization products under mild, open-air conditions. The scope of the work has been illustrated by synthesizing a new class of substrates that can be used for constructing complex molecular targets.