Gold-Catalyzed Cyclization of Alkynylaziridines as an Efficient Approach toward Functionalized N-Phth Pyrroles

An efficient access to N-phth pyrrroles via gold-catalyzed cycloisomerization of N-phth alkynylaziridines has been described. Functionalized pyrroles including pyrrole-2-carboxylates or 2-pyrrolyl ketone are easily constructed in generally good yields by this method. The resulting pyrroles can be further converted to N-amino pyrrole or 2-acyl pyrrole, which are important synthetic intermediates for amplification of molecular complexity.