Palladium-Catalyzed [4 + 3] Intramolecular Cycloaddition of Alkylidenecyclopropanes and Dienes.

The article describes the [4+3] intramolecular cycloaddition of alkylidenecyclopropanes and dienes using a palladium catalyst. According to the authors, the cycloaddition reaction allows the synthesis of appealing, stereochemically rich 5,7-fused bicyclic systems from readily dienylidenecyclopropanes. They mention that the success of reaction is restricted to dienes blocked in a cisoid conformation and activated by the presence of electron-withdrawing substituents.