Abstract
Protonation of the highly reactive 1:1 intermediates produced in the reaction between triphenylphosphine and dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates by 2-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one leads to vinyltriphenylphosphonium salts, which undergo an intramolecular Wittig reaction to produce the corresponding cyclobutene derivatives. The cyclobutene derivatives are not isolable and undergo electrocyclic ring-opening reactions in CH 2 Cl 2 at room temperature to produce dialkyl ( E )-2-(2-methyl-5-oxo-1-cyclopentenyl)-2-butenedioates in moderate yields.