Early efforts to broaden the spectrum and potency of cyclic boronic acid β-lactamase inhibitor vaborbactam included a series of 7-membered ring boronates. Exploration of stereoisomers and incorporation of heteroatoms allowed identification of the all-carbon cyclic boronate with substituents trans as the preferred core structure, showing inhibition of Class A and C enzymes. Crystal structures of one analog bound to important β-lactamase enzymes were obtained. When isolated under acidic conditions, these compounds spontaneously formed a neutral cyclic anhydride (intramolecular prodrug) which was shown to have much-improved oral bioavailability (52-69%) compared to the ring-opened carboxylate salt (9%).