The first catalytic enantioselective alkynylation of chromones is reported. In this process, chromones are silylated to form silyloxybenzopyrylium ions that lead to silyl enol ethers after Cu‐catalyzed alkyne addition using StackPhos as a ligand. The outcome of the reaction is impacted by distal ligand substituents with differing electronic character and it was found that successful reactions could be achieved with different ligand congeners by using different solvents. This sequence enables access to different products by protonation or further functionalization, thus increasing complexity in a divergent manner. The transformation is high yielding over a broad scope to provide a variety of useful chromanones in high enantioselectivity.

Diels-Alder reactions of tethered vinyl-metal species offer the opportunity to fashion highly functionalized diol intermediates for synthesis. We have developed the first enantioselective boron-tethered Diels-Alder reaction using quinine as a chiral promoter. Quinine recovery, enantioselectivity enhancement, and manipulation of the cyclohexene core are also investigated. DFT modeling calculations confirm the role of quinine as a bidentate ligand enhancing reaction rates. The enantioselectivity of the cycloaddition is proposed to originate from a boron-centered anomeric effect.

A tandem one-pot reaction featuring a cross-coupling followed by an intramolecular oxetane ring opening by mild nucleophiles is reported. The overall transformation comprises a carbon−carbon bond formation along with a carbon−heteroatom bond construction providing diverse multicyclic ring systems with a pendant hydroxymethyl handle for further elaboration. This approach constitutes a convergent method for rapid access to various scaffolds. Furthermore, a comparison of computed low-energy conformers is presented to rationalize instances in which cyclization was not observed.

A gold-catalyzed synthesis of cyclic 2-oxodienes from readily prepared propargyl alcohols and the subsequent Diels-Alder reaction are reported. The dehydrative cyclization reactions proceeded smoothly, and the dienes formed in situ were demonstrated to undergo cycloaddition with a variety of dienophiles. This method offers a new strategy for the synthesis of indolocarbazole alkaloids, whereby the convergent synthetic design allows for differentiation between the indole nitrogens.