Zinc-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Cross-Coupling of Terminal Alkynes with Aldehydes: Access to Ynones.

Because of the lack of redox ability, zinc has seldom been used as a catalyst in dehydrogenative cross-coupling reactions. Herein, a novel zinc-catalyzed dehydrogenative C(sp(2) )H/C(sp)H cross-coupling of terminal alkynes with aldehydes was developed, and provides a simple way to access ynones from readily available materials under mild reaction conditions. Good reaction selectivity can be achieved with a 1:1 ratio of terminal alkyne and aldehyde. Various terminal alkynes and aldehydes are suitable in this transformation.