An efficient synthetic method for 2-cyano-1, 4-cycloheptadiene derivatives was developed on the basis of divinylcyclopropane rearrangement. The substrates were prepared from 2- vinylcyclopropanecarbonitrile and an α, β-epoxysilane through a Peterson olefination. The resulting 2-cyano-1, 4-cycloheptadiene underwent deprotonation at the doubly allylic methylene group to afford a novel cycloheptadienyl anion, a useful intermediate for ...
