Herein, we demonstrate a new catalytic cycloaddition of quinolinium zwitterions involving a gold-bound allylic cation intermediate. This ligand-free higher-order cycloaddition efficiently affords a variety of fused 1,4-diazepine derivatives in a stereospecific manner at room temperature.
![Graphical abstract: Gold-catalyzed [5+2] cycloaddition of quinolinium zwitterions and allenamides as an efficient route to fused 1,4-diazepines](http://hg.y866.cn/compound/lib/scimg/usr/1/C8CC02570C.jpg)