The rich reactivity of transition metal carbenes with alkynes

Transition metal carbenes are versatile intermediates that can mediate many reactions. Among the different reactions they can participate in, their reactions with alkynes are especially diverse. The present digest describes the different reaction pathways that can take place when a transition metal carbene reacts with an alkyne, summarizes the most recent developments for each reactivity profile, and tries to shed light on the factors influencing the different reaction types.