Gold-catalyzed oxidative cleavage of aryl-substituted alkynyl ethers using molecular oxygen. Simultaneous degradation of C-H and single and triple carbon-carbon bonds under ambient conditions.

We report the gold-catalyzed oxidative cleavage of aryl-substituted alkynyl ethers using molecular oxygen under ambient conditions; the transformation involves a remarkable cleavage of C-H, C-C and C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C bonds simultaneously.