The rearrangement of alkylallenes to 1,3-dienes

1,3-Dienes are vital building blocks in organic synthesis. They underpin many fundamental synthetic transformations and are present in numerous natural products and drug candidate molecules. The rearrangement of an alkylallene to a 1,3-diene is an atom efficient, redox neutral, transformation that provides a straightforward synthetic route to functionalized 1,3-dienes. Herein, we provide an account of this transformation using allenes that are not predisposed by the presence of heteroatoms or electron-withdrawing groups directly attached to the allene. Early reports of this skeletal rearrangement are acid-mediated approaches, with limited substrate scope, but they provide valuable mechanistic insights. More recent transition metal-mediated approaches that exhibit improved substrate scope are described, together with isolated examples that have utilized this rearrangement.