Chloride-Tolerant Gold(I)-Catalyzed Regioselective Hydrochlorination of Alkynes

We have developed a highly regioselective homogeneous gold(I)-catalyzed anti-hydrochlorination of unactivated alkynes at room temperature. We have overcome the incompatibility between conventional cationic gold catalysts and chloride by using a hydrogen-bonding activation of the Au-Cl bond. This approach is scalable, exhibits excellent functional group tolerance, and can be conducted in open air.