A facile Zr-mediated approach to (Z)-enynols and its application to regio- and stereoselective synthesis of fully substituted dihydrofurans

[GRAPHICS] Efficient synthetic approaches to stereodefined (Z)-enynols have been developed through zirconium-mediated cross-coupling reactions of three different components involving alkyne, ketone, and alkynyl bromide in a one-pot procedure. The subsequent electrophilic cyclization of a wide variety of (Z)-enynols affords fully substituted (Z)-5-(1-iodoylidene)2,5-dihydrofurans with high regio- and stereoselectivity under mild reaction conditions.