Gold catalysis: phenol synthesis in the presence of functional groups.

The effect of different substituents, such as bromo, chloromethyl, hydroxymethyl, formyl, acetyl, carboxy, and acylated hydroxymethyl and ammonium groups, on the furan ring of substrates in gold-catalyzed phenol synthesis has been investigated. The furan ring was also replaced by different heterocycles, such as pyrroles, thiophenes, oxazoles, and a 2,4-dimethoxyphenyl group; gold catalysis then delivered no phenols, but occasionally other products were obtained. [Ru(3)(CO)(12)] also catalyzed the conversion of 1 at a low rate, [Os(3)(CO)(12)] failed as a catalyst, and with [Co(2)(CO)(8)] the alkyne complex 19 can be obtained, it does not lead to any phenol but reacts with norbornene to give the product of a Pauson-Khand reaction. Efforts to prepare vinylidene complexes of 1 provided the only evidence for these species; in the presence of a phosphane ligand with ruthenium an interesting deoxygenation to 22 was observed. The phenol 2 c was converted to the allyl ether, a building block for para-Claisen rearrangements, and to the aryl triflate, a building block for cross-coupling reactions.