A diastereoselective preparation of -fluoroenones from propargyl acetates has been developed proceeding via a gold-catalyzed rearrangement-fluorination cascade. Control reactions are consistent with a mechanism involving a gold-mediated 3,3-sigmatropic shift followed by a direct, nongold-catalyzed electrophilic fluorination of the allenyl acetate intermediate. © 2010 Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York.
