A modified method is proposed for preparation and purification, and the special features of the spatial structure have been studied for the ethyl ester Keywords: heterocyclic derivatives of tricarbonylmethane, ethyl esters of 4-hydroxy-2-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acids, X-ray structural analysis.Esters of 4-hydroxy-2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acids display interesting pharmacological properties [2][3][4] and in addition are widely used for obtaining the corresponding alkyl, aryl and heterylamides, and hydrazides. The various hetaryl-substituted quinol-2-ones possess antithyroidal [5], anti-inflammatory [6], local anesthetic [7], antinephritic [8], antitubercular [9], herbicidal [10], antitumor [11], and other forms of biological activity.Several methods of synthesizing such compounds are known today. However, only some of them are used, mostly for preparative purposes, and assume the interaction of alkylanthranilates [12], isatoic acid anhydrides [13,14], or 2-carbalkoxyphenyl isocyanates [15] with derivatives of malonic acid. Subsequent heterocyclization catalyzed by bases leads to esters of 4-hydroxy-2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acids. On the whole these methods have been well studied, give excellent yields, and are limited only by the availability of the appropriate anthranilic acids.Comparatively recently a new variant has been proposed for assembling 4-hydroxy-3-carbalkoxy-2-oxoquinoline systems, based on the interaction of trialkyl methanetricarboxylates with N-substituted anilines, including cyclic derivatives. As an example may be given the synthesis of the ethyl ester of 1-hydroxy-3-oxo-5,6-dihydro-3H-pyrrolo[3,2,1-i,j]quinoline-2-carboxylic acid (1). This includes the condensation of indoline 2 with the triethyl ester of methanetricarboxylic acid (3) [16]. The advantage of this method is that it is one stage, and also it is possible in certain cases to synthesize successfully desired compounds difficult to obtain by other methods. Regrettably, it is not devoid of drawbacks, the most important of which is the formation of side products, acyclic methanetri-N-R-carboxamides. For the suppression of this undesirable reaction a double [16], and sometimes a triple [14], excess of triethyl methanetricarboxylate is used, which reduces the overall