Highly Efficient and General Synthetic Method of Various Retinyl Ethers

Bromination of 4 by PBr 3 under Cu 1 catalyst produces the ambidextrous allylic halide 5 regioselectively and stereoselectively. Hetero nucleophiles distinguish the allylic carbon containing Br from the one containing Cl in 5 to give the heteroatom-substituted C 5 allylic chloride 3. The Julia olefination reaction with the C 1 5 sulfone 2 provides diverse retinyl ethers 1.