Organocatalytic activation of cyclopropanes in asymmetric synthesis

Abstract

Cyclopropanes are strained carbocycles that can undergo ring opening reactions in which one of the C–C bond present in the cycle is broken following a radical or ionic mechanism. Recently, organocatalysis has emerged as a convenient tool for promoting these ring-opening processes under very mild reaction conditions and allowing the unconventional preparation of interesting compounds starting from differently substituted cyclopropanes. In this review, we present the different reactions developed in this field in which different organocatalytic activation manifolds have been employed to trigger the ring opening event.

Keywords

• organocatalysis
• Asymmetric synthesis
• Ring strain
• Cyclopropane