Gold Chloride (AuCl 3) Catalyzed Expeditious Homocoupling of Terminal Alkynes at Ambient and Solvent Free Conditions: Impact of Sodium Acetate on the Reaction Yield

Homocoupling of terminal alkynes to 1, 3-diynes has been investigated, using AuCl 3 as catalyst under mild and operationally simple conditions. Effect of different organic and inorganic bases on the product yield and the reaction time were also studied. The catalyst is efficient, furnishes good to excellent yield of the desired products with organic bases and Sodium acetate was found to be the most effective base under solvent free conditions at room temperature.