Three-membered heterocyclic rings offer a powerful combination of
reactivity, stability, availability, and atom economy. In fact, the asymmetric ring
opening of allylic epoxides with nucleophiles of different kinds, as will be discussed in
this Review, offers the possibility of generating valuable chiral non-racemic building
blocks in a very simple manner and in a stereodefined fashion.
Keywords: Allylic epoxides, nucleophilic ring opening, heteronucleophiles,
carbon nucleophiles, regioselectivity, stereoselectivity, enantioselectivity.
