Me₂Zn-Mediated Addition of Acetylenes to Aldehydes and Ketones

Significance

Dimethylzinc was found to promote efficiently the addition reaction of terminal acetylenes to aldehydes and ketones leading to propargylic alcohols. A new, unprecedented mechanism of the zinc reagent activation is reported. The authors also performed an extensive computational work to back-up the obtained experimental results. The simplicity of the procedure and the good tolerance towards functional groups makes this method quite practical for synthetic applications.