| Our research activities are based on the catalytic systems that provide resource-saving synthetic methodologies through gold-catalyzed reactions of alkynes and alkenes. We have worked on three applications: (i) an effective and straightforward hydration of 3-alkynoates catalyzed by gold (III); this mild and atom-economical method can be used effectively with a wide range of substrates with high regioselectivity; (ii) an efficient monofluorination of allyl silanes using Selectfluor has been achieved without gold catalysts; (iii) a fluorine-enabled cationic metal species, generated by fluorination of a low valence gold(I) complex, catalyzed the hydration of alkynes to give alpha-substituted-alpha-fluoroketones in one pot under mild conditions. The latter allowed a diverse range of fluorine building blocks or targets to be made available using tools that are amenable in combinatorial or parallel synthesis conditions in drug discovery laboratories or process chemistry. |
