Paul C. Brookes, Patrick J. Murphy, Konrad Sommer, David E. Hibbs, Michael B. Hursthouse and K. M. Abdul Malik
The influence of the relative stereochemistry of the epoxide and benzyloxy functionalities present in cis- 1 and trans-1-benzyloxy-3,4-epoxycyclopentane 3 on the tandem epoxide–allylic alcohol–[1,2]/[2,3]-Wittig rearrangement has been studied, together with the Wittig rearrangement of the intermediate alcohols 2 and 4.