With the optimized reaction condition in hand, we turned to explore the substrate scope of the catalytic system (
Scheme 2). A wide range of terminal alkynones with benzoyl group bearing both electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substituents at the
para-,
meta- or
ortho-positions, all reacted smoothly with ethyl 2-diazopropanoate
2a to form the corresponding pyrazole products
3b-
3o in moderate yield. It was found that the methyl-substituent at
para-position was better than
ortho- and
meta-positions. The structure of the product
3f was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The supplementary crystallographic data of
3f(CCDC: 1984363) can be obtained free of charge from The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. Functional substituents such as halogens, alkyl groups and esters were well tolerated. Furthermore, ynones bearing 3-furyl or 3-thiophyl group also proved to be suitable substrates, affording
3p in 40% yield and
3q in 44% yield. Subsequently, the substrate scope with respect to the
α-diazoesters was examined. The length of
α-alkyl chain attached to
α-diazoesters had a huge effect on the yield (
3r and
3s), and the corresponding NH-pyrazole was isolated as the major product (53% yield) when methyl 2-diazobutanonate was used (see Supporting information for details). Next, by changing the esters group of diazopropanoate from methyl to isopropyl group, the yield decreased to 36% yield (
3t). Notably, the catalytic system was also suitable for the diazoacetate. It has some effect on the yield when the ester group changed into isopropyl or tertbutyl group with larger steric hindrance (35%–64% yield,
3u-
3y).