In flow
photochemical addition of propellane to
diacetyl allowed construction of the bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP) core
in a 1 kg scale within 1 day. Haloform reaction of the formed diketone
in batch afforded bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid in a
multigram amount. Representative gram scale transformations of the
diacid were also performed to obtain various BCP-containing building
blocks—alcohols, acids, amines, trifluoroborates, amino acids,
etc
.—for medicinal chemistry.