title: Rhodium-catalyzed isomerization of alpha-arylpropargyl alcohols to indanones: involvement of an unexpected reaction cascade.
abstract: A rhodium-catalyzed isomerization of alpha-arylpropargyl alcohols to indanones has been developed under mild conditions. Considering the ease of preparation of these propargyl alcohols (terminal alkynes + aromatic aldehydes), this method provides a new way of constructing indanones with high efficiency. By the mechanistic investigations using deuterium-labeled substrates, it has also been demonstrated that the reaction goes through an unexpected cascade, with a 1,4-hydrogen shift being the turnover-limiting step of the catalytic cycle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shintani
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Tamio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi