New catalytic route to alkynylgermanes

Vinyl-trisubstituted germanes react selectively with terminal alkynes in the presence of compounds containing Ru-H and Ru-Ge bonds with formation of functionalized alkynylgermanes. The reaction opens the first transition metal catalytic route for the preparation of this class of organogermanes, which are useful reagents for organic synthesis. The mechanism elucidated by NMR spectroscopic study of stoichiometric reactions shows that this process is a new catalytic activation of an sp-hybridized C-H bond involving the previously discovered activation of the =C-Ge bond.