How easy are the syntheses of allenes?

Allenes have proven themselves to be valuable building blocks toward complex molecular targets, revealing novel applications in natural product synthesis, pharmaceutical chemistry and materials science. The ongoing interest in allene chemistry results in a variety of new methodologies and pathways for the synthesis of allenes. This feature article highlights some of the recent important developments on the synthesis of allenes and the applications on the synthesis of allenic natural products and allenic-based optoelectronic materials. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011