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

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of our own research in this area by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MINECO) (Project CTQ2014-54306-P) and the DIUE of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Project 2014-SGR-931 and FI predoctoral grant to Ò.T.)