Rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of α-vinyldiazoesters in the presence of silanes, alcohols, ethers, amines, and thiols have been shown to produce the corresponding α-silyl, α-hydroxy, α-alkoxy, α-amino, and α-thioalkoxy esters in generally good yield with a complete retention of the stereochemistry of the double bond of the diazo precursor. An extension of the process in homochiral series has also been devised using either a chiral ...
