Authors: Huw M.L. Davies, T. Jeffrey Clark
Tetrahedron
1994, 50, 9883-9892
Rhodium(II) catalyzed decomposition of vinyldiazomethanes to vinylcarbenoids in the presence of oxygenated dienes leads to the regioselective synthesis of cycloheptadienes by a tandem cyclopropanation/Cope rearrangement. The resulting cycloheptadienes are readily hydrolyzed and oxidized, leading to a very direct and general synthesis of highly functionalized tropolones.