Recent Developments in the Stereochemistry of Cyclopropane Ring Opening

Abstract This review article deals with the stereochemistry of the following ring opening reactions: 1. Homoallylic rearrangement of secondary and tertiary cyclopropyl alcohols in the presence of electrophilic reagents, 2. The addition of carboxylic acids to vinylcyclopropanes, 3. The thermal rearrangement of vinylcyclopropanes into cyclopentenes. An account is also given of the NMR spectroscopic determination of the conformations of substituted vinylcyclopropanes.