A series of gold-catalyzed intramolecular hydroamination-initiated azidation, allylation and heteroarylation reactions enable the rapid construction of enantioenriched 2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines.

Here we report a copper-catalyzed formal dehydration polymerization of propargylic alcohols. Copper catalysis allows for efficient in situ generation of [n]cumulenes (n = 3, 5) by a soft deprotonation/β-elimination pathway and subsequent polymerization via organocopper species. Alkyne polymers (M n up to 36.2 kg/mol) were produced with high efficiency (up to 95% yield) and excellent functional group tolerance. One-pot synthesis of semiconducting head-to-head poly(phenylacetylene) was demonstrated through a polymerization−isomerization sequence.

In the past two decades, substantial advances have been made on the asymmetric alkyne functionalization by the activation of inert alkynes. However, these asymmetric transformations have so far been mostly limited to transition metal catalysis, and chiral Brønsted acid–catalyzed examples are rarely explored. Here, we report a chiral Brønsted acid–catalyzed dearomatization reaction of phenol- and indole-tethered homopropargyl amines, allowing the practical and atom-economical synthesis of a diverse array of valuable fused polycyclic enones and indolines bearing a chiral quaternary carbon stereocenter and two contiguous stereogenic centers in moderate to good yields with excellent diastereoselectivities and generally excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99% enantiomeric excess). This protocol demonstrates Brønsted acid–catalyzed asymmetric dearomatizations via vinylidene–quinone methides.

Controlling the composition and sequence during diazo copolymerization with vinyl or acetylenic monomers is challenging. Here we disclose a Cu-catalyzed C(3+1) copolymerization reaction using propargyl carbonates and aryldiazomethanes derived from N-tosylhydrazones as the C3 and C1 building blocks, respectively. This reaction rapidly produces alternating-like poly(1,4-diaryl-2-butyne-1,4-diyl)s (Mn up to 31.0 kg/mol) in a modular fashion, without detectable homopolymer segments. This work provides a new strategy for the synthesis of hydrocarbon polymers through diazo copolymerization.