Gold-Catalyzed Migratory Insertion of Alkynes

Herein, for the first time, we disclose the migratory insertion of alkynes into Au(III)‒C bonds in a catalytic fashion. Experimental results clearly suggest that the migratory insertion pathway predominates over the π-activation pathway - a finding further supported by the Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The observed regioselectivity underscores the distinct advantages and complementarity of gold catalysis in comparison to palladium catalysis.