Gold-Catalyzed Sigmatropic Rearrangement Reactions via Carbene Transfer Reactions

Sigmatropic rearrangements are an important fundamental toolbox in organic synthesis to access complex molecular fragments. Yet, the rearrangement reactions of onium ylides via gold catalyzed carbene transfer reactions are relatively unexplored. Herein, we describe a gold-catalyzed sigmatropic rearrangement of sulfonium and selenium ylides (39 examples, up to 99% yield). Furthermore, we report on the limitations of sigmatropic rearrangement reactions of aryl allyl anilines, which deliver exclusively C-H functionalized products.