Anion relay chemistry: an effective tactic for diversity oriented synthesis.

An effective one-flask multicomponent linchpin coupling protocol employing the concept of anion relay chemistry (ARC) was developed. This concept calls for addition of an anion (5) to an epoxide (6), bearing on a distal carbon a trialkyl silyl group and an anion stabilizing group (ASG), to furnish upon epoxide ring opening oxyanion 7. Addition of HMPA or other polar solvents to trigger a solvent controlled 1,4-Brook rearrangement then leads to a new distal anion (8), which in turn is available to react with a variety of second electrophiles.