We report a new Pd(II)-catalyzed C-H bond amination reaction to form carbazoles, an important motif that is prevalent in a range of systems. The catalytic amination process operates under extremely mild conditions and produces carbazole products in good to excellent yields. Carbazoles possessing complex molecular architecture can also be formed using this reaction, highlighting its potential in natural product synthesis applications. Preliminary mechanistic investigations reveal the reaction proceeds through a Pd(II)/Pd(IV) manifold and that reductive elimination from a high oxidation state Pd(IV) complex facilitates the mild conditions of this transformation.

A direct Pd-catalyzed C=H functionalization of benzoquinone (BQ) can be controlled to give either mono- or disubstituted BQ, including the installation of two different groups in a one-pot procedure. BQ can now be directly functionalized with aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl, and cycloalkene groups and, moreover, the reaction is conducted in environmentally benign water or acetone as solvents.

A simple change of solvent allows controlled and efficient switching between oxidative Heck and conjugate addition reactions on cyclic Michael acceptor substrates, catalyzed by a cationic Pd(II) catalyst system. Both reactions are ligand- and base-free and tolerant of air and moisture, and the controlled switching sheds light on some of the factors which favor one reaction over the other.

Gold(I)-catalyzed reactions of thiols, thiophenols, and thioacids with 3,3-disubstituted cyclopropenes occur in a regioselective and chemoselective manner to produce either vinyl thioethers or primary allylic thioesters in good yields. A survey of commonly used gold(I) catalysts shows Echavarren's cationic gold(I) catalyst to be most tolerant of deactivation by sulfur. A novel digold with bridging thiolate complex is characterized by X-ray crystallography, shedding light on a possible deactivation pathway.

Depending on the conditions employed, gold(I)-catalyzed addition of indoles to 3,3-disubstituted cyclopropenes can be controlled to yield either 3-(E)-vinylindoles (3) or bis-indolylalkanes (4). If the cyclopropene substituents are sterically bulky, unprecedented gold-catalyzed oxidation under air occurs to yield bis-indolylalkene (5) and epoxide (6) at room temperature.