An Efficient Approach to the Synthesis of Nucleosides: Gold(I)‐Catalyzed N‐Glycosylation of Pyrimidines and Purines with Glycosyl ortho‐Alkynyl Benzoates

Persuaded with gold: The title reaction in the presence of Ph3PAuNTf2 (Tf=trifluoromethanesulfonyl) led conveniently to the corresponding nucleosides with excellent regioselectivity (see scheme). Even purine derivatives underwent this transformation owing to the mild conditions, which enabled the use of protecting groups that would not usually be compatible with N-glycosylation conditions. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.