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In the past decade, there have been many extraordinary advances in the development of gold-catalyzed enantioselective annulations, such as cycloadditions, cyclizations, cycloisomerizations, and tandem annulations, which are of particular interest owing to their potential for rapid construction of optically active hetero- and carbocyclic molecules. This Review summarizes the methods to construct chiral cyclic compounds by gold-catalyzed enantioselective annulations reported since 2005. The Review is organized according to the general annulation types catalyzed by chiral gold complexes or chiral gold salts, which have four main types (cycloadditions, cyclizations of C−C multiple bonds with tethered nucleophiles, cycloisomerization or cyclization of enynes, and tandem annulations), as well as some other strategies. The general reaction mechanisms of each subcategory, key intermediates for some unusual transformations, and the application of several novel ligands and chiral gold salts are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in dehydro or dehydrogenative Diels-Alder (D-A) reactions. This Minireview gives an overview of the major two strategies for dehydro(genative) Diels-Alder reactions, which differ in dehydrogenation and D-A cyclization sequence. Reactions in which D-A cycloaddition is followed by dehydrogenation are useful methods for the synthesis of various aromatic compounds, whereas advancements in dehydro genative procedures with oxidants or catalysts prior to D-A cycloaddition offer yet further new routes to functionalized cycloadducts. Recent leading findings are highlighted and the current state of the art, scope, and limitations of these processes are discussed in this Minireview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angularly fused carbocyclic frameworks and their heteroatom-substituted analogues exist in many natural products that display a broad and interesting range of biological activities. Preparation of polycyclic products by cycloaddition reactions have been the long-standing hot topic in the synthetic community. Dehydro-Diels-Alder (DDA) reactions are one class of dehydropericyclic reactions that are derived conceptually by systematic removal of hydrogen atom pairs. A base-promoted tandem Michael addition and DDA reaction of α,α-dicyanoolefins with electron-deficient 1,3-conjugated enynes was realized in which a DDA reaction takes place between the arylalkynes and electron-deficient tetrasubstituted olefin. The control experiments support the stepwise anionic reaction pathway rather than the concerted reaction pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flustering oxindoles: An enantioselective synthesis of 3,3′‐disubstituted oxindoles by conjugate addition of malonates to isatylidene‐3‐acetaldehydes in high yield and enantioselectivity is developed (see scheme). The synthetic utility of this reaction is demonstrated by the synthesis of three oxindole core structures and the asymmetric total synthesis of debromoflustramine E. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]