Recent advances in phosphine catalysis involving γ-substituted allenoates.

Organophosphine catalysis of allenoates has doubtlessly been one of the most ideal and powerful synthetic strategies for the generation of highly functionalized carbo-/hetero-cycle motifs, which are important structural motifs in biologically active natural products and pharmaceuticals. Because of their diverse and amazing reactivity, chemists usually pay more attention to the study of 2,3-butadienoates and α-substituted allenoates. More recently, there is a growing interest in the study of phosphine catalysis of γ-substituted allenoates, which usually have low reactivity and selectivity. This feature article will describe the selected examples of organophosphine catalysis of γ-substituted allenoates with a wide range of electrophiles.