Covering: up to 2015

Sesquiterpenoids are consistently attracting the interest of the scientific community due to their promising clinical profile as therapeutic agents. Cycloisomerization of enynes and dienes is a powerful tool in the hands of organic chemists to access them. In the last 20 years the field has witnessed remarkable advances, especially by revealing the capability of platinum and gold complexes to initiate such reactions. Nowadays, cycloisomerizations continue to enrich our knowledge with atom-economical routes and impressive cascades to reach more complex molecules. The current review covers the basic mechanistic aspects of metal catalysis in cycloisomerization reactions and their progress to the synthesis of selected complex sesquiterpenoids.