The combination of transition metal catalysis and organocatalysis has received an increasing amount of attention in the recent years. Phosphines have an established position as the most popular ligands, however, NHC carbenes gain in popularity as better alternatives. Very little research has been devoted to molecules bearing two active sites within one catalyst. In the present work, a new NHC carbene is designed and the synthetic route toward the catalyst is presented. Its structure is based on an imidazole moiety with two catalytic centers: gold(I) and an aldehyde functionality, so that it could catalyze the isomerization of propargylic ketones. By modification of the functionality, the reaction scope could be broadened.
