Preparation of some alkynes and alkenynes

The following thesis concerns the preparation of several alkynes and their conversion to alkenynes. Alkynes are of interest because of their potential biological activity (1), general reactivity to boranes (2), complexing ability with some transition metals (3), as well as other general reactions of π bonds (4). It was the intention of this investigation to prepare several alkynes with varying degrees of steric hindrance and evaluate the effect of this property. Double bonds were incorporated in several of these compounds to aid in the assessment