Pilot-Scale Production of Dimethyl 1,4-Cubanedicarboxylate

A scalable process for the preparation of high purity dimethyl 1,4-cubanedicarboxylate (3) is reported. The work described herein builds on previous synthetic work from this and other laboratories, to provide a reliable process that can be used to prepare multigram quantities of 3 in a partially telescoped, 8 step process, with minimal purification of intermediates.