Copper- or silver-catalyzed cascade radical addition/dearomative spirocyclization of biaryl ynones with fluoroalkyl bromides or diethylphosphite has been realized for the first time. This method provides a novel and step-economical protocol for the divergent synthesis of a wide range of difluoromethylated or monofluoromethylated and phosphorated spiro[5.5]trienones in moderate to high yields.

(S,R,R,S,R,S)-4,6,8,10,16,18-Hexamethyldocosane (1) was synthesized in 11% yield in 11 steps in the longest linear sequence from > or =98% pure (S)-beta-citronellal and 6 additional steps for the preparation of 11 in 23% yield from propene. Five of the six asymmetric carbon centers were generated catalytically and stereoselectively by the ZACA reaction (5 times), one lipase-catalyzed acetylation, and two chromatographic operations.

A Pd-catalyzed, highly regio- and stereoselective addition of boronic acids to ynamides has been realized. This protocol generates (Z)-α,β-disubstituted enamides in high yields with excellent regio- and stereoselectivity under the mild reaction conditions, thereby providing a good complementary method for the diverse synthesis of multifunctional enamides. A wide collection of functional groups are found to be tolerated. It represents a straightforward and useful means to assemble stereodefined enamides from readily available starting materials.

A novel silver-catalyzed ring-opening acylation of cyclopropanols and cyclobutanols is described. The reaction proceeds under mild and neutral conditions and provides a facile access to nonsymmetric 1,4- and 1,5-diketones in promising yields with broad substrate scope. Mechanistic studies including DFT calculations suggest the involvement of an uncommon water-assisted 1,2-HAT process, which is strongly exothermic and thus promotes addition of carbon radicals to aldehydes. In contrast to traditional reductive radical addition protocols, this work represents the first example of the intermolecular oxidative radical addition to aldehydes, thus offering a novel strategy for the direct synthesis of acyclic ketones from readily accessible aldehydes.

An unprecedented Pd-catalyzed hydrohalogenation of alkynyl halides for the regio- and stereoselective synthesis of (Z)-1,2-dihaloalkenes has been realized using [(allyl)PdCl](2) as the catalyst and cis,cis-1,5-cyclooctadiene as the ligand. The advantages of this protocol are well illustrated by the assembly of trisubstituted (Z)-enynes and multifunctional benzenes via iterative cross-coupling reactions or tandem Diels-Alder-aromatization reactions, respectively.