Cascade Cyclizations and Couplings Involving Nickel Enolates

A new strategy for effecting cascade cyclization processes using nickel enolates has been
developed. Nickel enolates may be cleanly generated by the oxidative cyclization of an enal and alkyne
with Ni(0), and the resulting enolate may be functionalized by a variety of alkylation processes. Partially
and fully intramolecular versions of the process allow the rapid synthesis of complex polycyclics from simple
achiral, acyclic precursors.