Elementary Steps of Gold Catalysis: NMR Spectroscopy Reveals the Highly Cationic Character of a “Gold Carbenoid”

What are you? Even though the metal‐induced ring opening of 3,3‐disubstituted cyclopropenes is known to serve as a genuine carbene generator, the use of Au^I in this reaction leads to a reactive intermediate with highly cationic character. This result has important implications for gold catalysis in general, which in the past has been commonly attributed to the intervention of gold carbenes.