Unusual reactions of 5,5-dimethyl-2-(indenyl-2)-3-pyrazolidinone with acetylenedicarboxylates

[reaction: see text] Reaction of 5,5-dimethyl-3-pyrazolidinone (1) with 2-indanone (2) gave 5,5-dimethyl-2-(1H-indenyl-2)-3-pyrazolidinone (3) instead of the expected azomethine imine 4. Although reaction of 2-substituted 3-pyrazolidinones with acetylenedicarboxylates usually gives ring expansion products, such as 1,2-diazepines, treatment of 3 with dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates (5, R = Me; 6 R = Et) resulted in the formation of rel-(7aR,12aS)-6,7-bis(alkoxycarbonyl)-3,4-dihydro-4,4-dimethyl-7aH-indano[1,2-b]pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrimidin-2-ones (7, R = Me; 9, R = Et) as major products and 3,4-bis(alkoxycarbonyl)-7,7-dimethyl-2-(indenyl-2)-6,7-dihydro-2H,6H-1,2-diazepin-5-ones (8, R = Me: 10, R = Et) as minor products.