Silver and platinum-catalysed addition of O–H and N–H bonds to allenes

Abstract

Transition-metal catalysed nucleophile addition to allenes is a very powerful tool for the synthesis of functionalised molecules containing heteroatoms, heterocycles in the intramolecular version, or allyl derivatives in the intermolecular version. The reaction has been explored with a wide variety of metals, silver being one of the most effective. Although platinum has somehow been less explored, different reactivities have been observed with this metal, showing the great potential and versatility of this methodology. This review will highlight the reactions with these two metals, silver and platinum, when oxygen or nitrogen nucleophiles are employed. Although most of the examples describe the intramolecular version, some intermolecular reactions with platinum have been described, and will also be covered.