Nicolai, StefanoWaser, Jerome2024-07-032024-07-032024-07-032024-05-2710.1039/d4sc02767ahttps://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/209065WOS:001247464900001Bicyclic carbocycles containing a high fraction of Csp3 have become highly attractive synthetic targets because of the multiple applications they have found in medicinal chemistry. The formal cycloaddition of bicyclobutanes (BCBs) with two- or three-atom partners has recently been extensively explored for the construction of bicyclohexanes and bicycloheptanes, but applications to the synthesis of medium-sized bridged carbocycles remained more limited. We report herein the formal [4+2] cycloaddition of BCB ketones with silyl dienol ethers. The reaction occurred in the presence of 5 mol% aluminium triflate as a Lewis acid catalyst. Upon acidic hydrolysis of the enol ether intermediates, rigid bicyclo[4.1.1]octane (BCO) diketones could be accessed in up to quantitative yields. This procedure tolerated a range of both aromatic and aliphatic substituents on both the BCB substrates and the dienes. The obtained BCO products could be functionalized through reduction and cross-coupling reactions.|Bicyclo[4.1.1]octanes (BCOs) were synthesized in up to quantitative yields through the formal [4+2] cycloaddition of aryl and alkyl bicyclobutane (BCB) ketones with dienol silyl ethers using Al(OTf)3 as a Lewis acid catalyst.Physical SciencesStrain-ReleaseDrugTooltext::journal::journal article::research article