Zirconium-Promoted Epoxide Rearrangement-Alkynylation Sequence

Significance

The alkynylation of electrophiles is a convenient method for the introduction of a functionalized carbon chain into a molecule. In this work, the authors elegantly combined the Lewis acid promoted epoxide rearrangement with the nucleophilic addition of an acetylide to the resulting aldehyde, thus obtaining propargylic alcohol as the final product. This method is quite simple to perform and offers broad functional group compatibility.