A highly chemo‐, enantio‐, and regioselective synthesis of furanones bearing an α,α‐disubstituted quaternarystereogeniccenter is reported. The Cu‐catalyzedenantioselective conjugate addition of organoaluminum reagents to unsaturated ketoesters at room temperature and subsequent lactonization took place. Synthetic transformations of furanones represent facile approaches to various cyclic or acyclic
Cu-catalyzed decarboxylative alkynylation of quaternary a-cyano acetate salts with alkynyl bromides and alkynyl chlorides is described. This new reaction can be used for preparing functionalized butynenitrile derivatives.