Various pyrazole and dihydropyrazolones containing an adamantane fragment were synthesized from adamantyl-substituted 1,3-and 1,4-diketones, ethyl 4-(1-adamantyl)-2-R-4-oxobutanoates (R = CN, Ac), and ethyl 2-(1-adamantylcarbonyl)-4-oxo-4-phenylbutanoate.Methods of synthesis and chemical properties of 1,2-diazoles and their derivatives have been well documented [1][2][3][4][5]. Compounds of this series attract interest as pyrazolone dyes and drugs. Examples of the latter are Phenazone, Aminophenazone, and Metamizole sodium. However, there are only a few publications on the synthesis of 1,2-diazoles and pyrazolones having an adamantane fragment. N-Phenyl-3-adamantyl-and N-phenyl-3-adamantylmethylpyrazolones were synthesized for the first time from the corresponding oxo esters [6,7]. Later on, reactions of dioxo esters with hydrazine and phenylhydrazine were reported [8,9]. It was found that, depending on the initial ester structure, either adamantanecarboxylic acid hydrazide or 3-(1-adamantylmethyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-5-one and 3-(1-adamantylmethyl)-1-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-5-one were formed. The reaction of ethyl 3-(1-adamantyl)-2-(1-adamantylcarbonyl)-3-oxopropanoate with hydrazine gave ethyl 3,5-bis(1-adamantyl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylate [8].In this paper we describe the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds on the basis of 1,3-and 1,4-diketones of the adamantane series, as well as from ethyl 4-(1-adamantyl)-2-R-4-oxobutanoates [R = CN, Ac] and ethyl 2-(1-adamantylcarbonyl)-4-oxo-4-phenylbutanoate. Known procedures for the preparation of 1,3-diketones are based on the Claisen condensation, i.e., acylation of ketones with esters in the presence of strong bases such as metallic sodium, sodium hydride, sodium amide, and others [10], reaction of ketones with carboxylic acid anhydrides in the presence of boron trifluoride-ether complex [11,12], acylation of ketones (preliminarily treated with lithium diisopropylamide and chlorotrimethylsilane) with carboxylic acid chlorides in the presence of Lewis acids (TiCl 4 , SnCl 4 , ZnCl 2 ) [13], and acylation of ketones with carboxylic acid anhydrides in the presence of ZnCl 2 and SiCl 4 [14]. We synthesized adamantyl-substituted 1,3-diketones I and II by reaction of 1-adamantyl methyl ketone with carboxylic acid anhydrides catalyzed by boron trifluoride-ether complex (Scheme 1). However, we failed to obtain the corresponding 1,3-diketone from adamantane-1-carboxylic anhydride under analogous conditions. We also tried to perform acylation of 1-adamantyl methyl ketone with carboxylic acid anhydrides in the presence of ZnCl 2 and SiCl 4 in boiling methylene chloride, but the yields were lower than in the reactions catalyzed by BF 3 · Et 2 O.Ethyl 4-(1-adamantyl)-2-R-4-oxobutanoates III and IV (R= CN, Ac) were obtained by reactions of (1-ada-