Abstract Unsaturated sultones with normal, medium and large ring sizes were efficiently synthesized by ring closing metathesis (RCM) of sulfonates. The resulting α, β-unsaturated sultones act as dienophiles in intermolecular Diels-Alder reactions. A first cyclic sulfate formation through RCM has been discovered, and a rapid access to β-lactams fused to a sultam moiety of variable ring size was developed from inexpensive, commercially ...
