Nucleophilic transition metal based cyclization of allenes

Abstract

Allenes bearing a pro-nucleophile can be cyclized on treatment with a wide variety of transition metal catalysts and reagents: palladium, cobalt, ruthenium, silver, rhodium, lanthanides, gold. The nucleophilic groups can be nitrogen, oxygen or carbon based and can form rings of various sizes, often with good control of stereochemistry. A variety of mechanisms can be proposed for these reactions and the metal complex can be used to introduce a variety of functional groups during cyclization. Several heterocyclic natural products have been prepared using a selection of these reactions.