Katritzky's oxopyridinium. betaine cycloaddition is employed to generate br
idged bicyclic substrates suitable for our palladium(0) catalysed cyclisati
on-anion capture methodology. A variety of polycyclic heterocycles have bee
n synthesised via monocyclisation-organotin(IV) capture with or without inc
orporation of carbon monoxide. Sequential cycloaddition-cyclisation can be
performed as a one pot process to deliver substantial gain in molecular com
plexity. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.