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Updated: Jan 16, 2026

Synthesis of Hypervalent Iodonium Alkynyl Triflates for the Application of Generating Cyanocarbenes
Published on: September 8, 2013
HFIP/BF3·Et2O Synergistic Catalysis Enables Intramolecular Alkyne Cyclization to Coumarins
Yu Zhao1, Yu Cheng1, Quanye Liu1
1College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, and Molecular Diagnosis of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Hebei Province, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, P. R. China.
Abstract:
We have successfully developed a novel synergistic catalytic system employing hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP)/BF3·Et2O for intramolecular alkyne cyclization, which enables efficient construction of coumarin frameworks. This metal-free protocol features mild reaction conditions and exceptional substrate generality. The methodology has been directly applied to the synthesis of pharmacologically important natural products and drug molecules. Systematic mechanistic investigations have uncovered the cooperative catalytic mechanism of HFIP in this transformation, providing new fundamental principles for reaction design.
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