Mechanistic insights into the gold chemistry of allenes.

Although most mechanistic studies on gold-catalysed reactions focused on alkynes as substrates, some knowledge about gold-catalysed conversions of allenic substrates has been obtained. This contribution summarises these insights into the reaction mechanisms of gold-catalysed transformations of allenes which are based on computational studies, labelling studies, the detection of intermediates, chirality transfer and diastereoselective product formation.