A method for the preparation of functionalized cyclopropylzinc chlorides, which involves treatment of substituted 2-alkenyl-1-iodocyclopropanes with BuLi followed by transmetalation of the resultant cyclopropyllithium with zinc chloride, is described. Palladium(0)-catalyzed cross-coupling of the cyclopropylzinc chloride derivatives with alkenyl iodides or iodobenzene provides highly substituted 1,2-bisalkenylcyclopropanes or 1-alkenyl-2-phenylcyclopropanes. In two of the cases studied, the initially formed cis-1,2-bisalkenylcyclopropanes 27, 29 underwent partial Cope rearrangement under the cross-coupling conditions to afford the corresponding 1,4-cycloheptadienes 28 and 30, respectively.A recent report 1 from this laboratory described an effective method for the preparation of functionalized, stereodefined iodocyclopropanes. These substances appear to be ideal substrates for the preparation of metallocyclopropanes, 2,3 which, in turn, could be employed as partners in transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. It was therefore decided to investigate the Pd(0)-catalyzed cross-coupling of cyclopropylzinc compounds (derived from the corresponding iodocyclopropanes) with alkenyl and aryl iodides as a potential method for preparing highly substituted 1,2-bisalkenylcyclopropanes 4 and 1-aryl-2-alkenylcyclopropanes. The overall synthetic transformations, which are shown in general terms in Scheme 1, are both convergent and stereospecific. The first step of the sequence is a metal-halogen exchange reaction 5 in which the iodocyclopropane is treated with BuLi to provide the corresponding cyclopropyllithium A. Based on the pioneering studies of Walborsky et al., 6 A would be expected to be configurationally stable. The second step, a transmetalation reaction resulting from treatment of A with ZnCl 2 , would provide the cyclopropylzinc derivative B. To this point the sequence represents a novel method for the preparation of cyclopropylzinc reagents. In the final step of the sequence, the zinc derivative B would be coupled with an alkenyl or aryl iodide in the presence of a catalytic amount of (Ph 3 P) 4 Pd to provide a highly substituted, stereodefined 1,2-bisalkenylcyclopropane or a 2-alkenyl-1-arylcyclopropane.The preparation of substituted cyclopropanes via Negishitype couplings 7 of cyclopropylzinc reagents with alkenyl or aryl halides has been reported by our group 8 and, more recently, by others. 9 However, the generation of the requisite cyclopropylzinc species from iodocyclopropanes and subsequent Pd(0)-catalyzed coupling of the former intermediates with alkenyl iodides has not been extensively investigated. 10 In contrast, iodocyclopropanes have been employed directly as partners in cross-coupling reactions with metalloid reagents. Charette and coworkers have described Suzuki-type couplings of iodocyclopropanes with aryl-and alkenylboronic acids 11 and, more recently, with cyclopropylboronate esters. 12 In this paper, we report the use of iodocyclopropanes as precursors to cyclopropylzinc chlorides, which...