Stereocontrolled construction of seven-membered carbocycles using a combination of Brook rearrangement-mediated [3 + 4] annulation and epoxysilane rearrangement.

Reactions of delta-silyl-gamma,delta-epoxy-alpha,beta-unsaturated acylsilane with alkenyl methyl ketone enolate afford highly functionalized cycloheptenone derivatives via a tandem sequence featuring the combination of Brook rearrangement-mediated [3 + 4] annulation and epoxysilane rearrangement. The reactions using an opposite combination of three and four carbon units, in which an epoxysilane moiety was incorporated in the four-carbon unit, also give satisfactory results. Also, the possibility of chirality transfer from epoxide to remote positions via the tandem sequence using an optically active epoxide has been demonstrated.