In organic chemistry, alkynylation is an addition reaction in which a terminal alkyne (−C≡CH) is added to a carbonyl group (C=O) to form an α-alkynyl alcohol (R2C(−OH)−C≡C−R).[1] [2]
When the acetylide is formed from acetylene (HC≡CH), the reaction gives an α-ethynyl alcohol. This process is often referred to as ethynylation. Such processes often involve metal acetylide intermediates.