Carbon Suboxide in Preparative Organic Chemistry. New synthetic methods (1)

Although it has been known for nearly 70 years, carbon suboxide was used almost exclusively for the preparation of simple malonic acid derivatives until about 1960. Since then, however, the significance of this unusual “bisketene” has steadily increased in synthetic chemistry (especially that of heterocyclic compounds). This progress report surveys the possible applications of C3O2 in preparative organic chemistry, including photochemical reactions.