A thorough analysis of the chemistry of vinylogous acyl triflates provides insight into important chemical processes and opens new directions in synthetic technology. Tandem nucleophilic addition/ C-C bond cleaving fragmentation reactions of cyclic vinylogous acyl triflates 1 yield a variety of acyclic acetylenic compounds. Full details are disclosed herein. A wide array of nucleophiles, such as organolithium and Grignard reagents, lithium enolates and their analogues, hydride reagents, and lithium amides, are applied. The respective reactions produce ketones 2, 1,3-diketones and their analogues 3, alcohols 4, and amides 5. The present reactions are proposed to proceed through a 1,2-addition of the nucleophile to the carbonyl group of starting triflates 1 to form tetrahedral alkoxide intermediates C, followed by Grob-type fragmentation, which effects C-C bond cleavage to yield acyclic acetylenic compounds 2- 5 and 7. The potent nucleofugacity of the triflate moiety is channeled through the sigma-bond framework of 1, providing direct access to the fragmentation pathway without denying other typical reactions of cyclic vinylogous esters. The synthetic versatility of vinylogous acyl triflates, including functionalization reactions of the cyclic enone core (1 -> 6 or 8), is also illustrated.