The use of silyl ketene acetals and enol ethers in the catalytic enantioselective alkylative ring opening of oxa/aza bicyclic alkenes.

Silyl ketene acetals and enol ethers are employed as reactive and functional group tolerant nucleophiles in the enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed alkylative ring opening of a diverse class of oxa/azabicyclic alkenes. This method provides access to enantioenriched dihydronaphthalene and cyclohexene scaffolds, which have the potential to be derivatized toward core motifs of naphthoquinone and sesquiterpene natural products.