摘要：

As the syntheses of cyclopropane derivatives can be accomplished by several highly efficient procedures, these derivatives have emerged as important intermediates for the construction of relatively complex molecules. Perhaps more importantly, asymmetric cyclo-propanation can be realized in a number of ways. Hence, chiral complex molecules can be obtained via appropriate transformations of these chiral cyclopropane derivatives. This latter aspect has only recently begun to be addressed in detail. Although we have presented several possibilities for the molecular manipulation of three-membered carbocycles, the potential of cyclopropanes has by no means been fully exploited. The underlying theme of this review has been the comparison of the chemistry of alkenes with that of cyclopropanes. The direct result of extrapolating such comparison to synthetic design of complex molecules has been the explosive growth of new synthetic methodologies. One of the more important aspects of cyclopropane chemistry is the fact that newly established methods that rely on transformation of cyclopropanes are frequently adopted to oxiranes and aziridines in efforts to provide for methodologies in the domain of heterocyclic synthesis. We anticipate that more new strategies will be discovered in the future.

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