The 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of aceto-, benzo- and bromoformonitrile
oxides to cyclic and open-chain 4-oxobut-2-enoic acid derivatives hav
e been investigated. The addition to 5-methoxyfuran-2(5H)-one (1) gave
regioselectively 3-substituted thoxy-3a,6a-dihydrofuro[3,4-d]isoxazol
-4(6H)-ones, whereas methyl (Z)- and (E)-4,4-dimethoxybut-2-enoates (2
) and (3) afforded mixtures of regioisomeric isoxazolines.