Gold‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Furans and Furanones from Sulfur Ylides

A golden switch: Doubly stabilized sulfonium ylides can be coupled with alkynes in a gold-catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles. This method hinges on a switch in the reactivity of the sulfur ylide resulting from the simple modification of the electron-withdrawing moieties and leads to either furans or furanones bearing a quaternary center (see scheme).