α-Aryl-substituted allenamides in an imino-Nazarov cyclization cascade catalyzed by Au(I).

An imino-Nazarov cyclization using α-aryl-substituted allenamides is described. This gold(I)-catalyzed cascade is efficient and regioselective in constructing a diverse array of synthetically useful aromatic-ring fused cyclopentenamides. The success in this transformation represents a solution to the challenge in establishing an imino-Nazarov cyclization process.