Diastereoselective zinco-cyclopropanation of chiral allylic alcohols with gem-dizinc carbenoids

The highly diastereoselective zinco-cyclopropanation of chiral allylic alcohols using gem-dizinc carbenoids is described. The reaction produces three contiguous stereogenic centers, and the resulting chiral cyclopropylzinc derivatives can be trapped with electrophiles with retention of configuration. Simple functional group manipulations lead to the efficient synthesis of orthogonally protected 1,2,3-substituted cyclopropane derivatives.