A Tandem Iridium-Catalyzed 'Chain-Walking'/Cope Rearrangement Sequence

An iridium-catalyzed tandem olefin migration/Cope rearrangement of alkenyl ω-ene cyclopropanes is reported. By this means, a variety of complex annulenes are obtained as single diastereomers starting from cyclopropyl ester derived from simple 1,ω-dienes and alkenyldiazo compounds. Long-range olefin migration over up to 10 positions could be realized and coupled with an efficient Cope rearrangement to yield valuable scaffolds. Various functional groups are well-tolerated, giving rise to densely functionalized products. Furthermore, the present methodology could be successfully extended to yield bicyclic cycloheptenones starting from readily available alkenyl cyclopropanols via a Kulinkovich reaction.