[Rh(CO)2Cl]2-catalyzed domino reactions involving allylic substitution and subsequent carbocyclization reactions.

[reaction: see text] Three novel domino reaction processes have been discovered and developed that employ the regioselective and stereoselective [Rh(CO)(2)Cl](2)-catalyzed alkylations of allylic trifluoroacetates with alpha-substituted sodiomalonates followed by an intramolecular Pauson-Khand annulation, a [5 + 2] cycloaddition, or a cycloisomerization. A unique aspect of the methodology is that a single catalyst is used to effect sequential transformations simply by increasing the temperature for the second reaction.