Product Selectivity Control in the Domino Cyclization of 2-(2-Alkynylarylidene)-1,3-dicarbonyl Compounds Catalyzed by Metal Lewis Acids

The selective synthesis of different products from the same kind of starting materials is an attractive, but challenging, task for chemists. This article reports our design for the selective domino reactions of 2-(2-alkynylarylidene)-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds which can be prepared from o-alkynylbenzaldehyde and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. Several different types of polycyclic skeletons can be constructed from 2-(2-alkynylarylidene)-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with by simple subtle modification of the structure or choice of reaction conditions.