Regio‐ and Site‐selective Molecular Rearrangements by Homogeneous Gold Catalysis

Abstract

AbstractHomogeneous gold catalysis for connection and disconnection of carbon‐carbon (C−C) as well as carbon‐heteroatom (C−X) bond constitutes an important zone in molecular chemistry, since all new or existing organic synthesis relies on the transformation of these chemical bonds. Among the diaspora of molecular transformations, rearrangement and shift reactions occupy a special place in organic chemistry, as they enable the synthesis of molecules of increased complexity from simple precursors. However, the rearrangement in substrates possessing more than one potential reaction site produce more than one isomer and could result in regioselective issues. This challenge of selective synthesis of one regisomer over the other was fairly addressed by gold catalysis on various occasions. To this end, the prowess of homogeneous gold catalysis towards regioselective molecular rearrangement reactions and the contributing parameters are comprehensively reviewed. Also, synthetic applicability of regioselective rearrangements by gold catalysis in total and formal synthesis of several natural products was emphasized.This review also covers the emergence of gold catalyzed migratory/shift selective reactions and could be beneficial for synthetic and medicinal chemists.