Highly syn-Selective Elimination of Peterson anti-Adducts to Give Z-α,β-Unsaturated Esters

Peterson adducts have been known to stereospecifically give syn-elimination products upon treatment with base except when the product olefin is in conjugation with an electron-withdrawing group. The missing piece has been put in place by using a catalytic amount of DBU, by which syn-elimination could be effected to provide the thermally less stable Z-olefin from the anti-adduct with high selectivity.