Electronic Effects in the Reactions of Olefin-Coordinated Gold Carbene Complexes

The influence of electronic effects on cyclopropanation, cross-meta thesis, and olefin loss reactions was probed in the gas phase for the series of adducts formed by para-substituted benzylidene gold carbenes and cis-dimethoxyethylene. This information sheds light on rate-determining transition states associated with every process and suggests that tuning of the selectivity is possible.