Palladium(II)-catalyzed ring expansion of a 1-alkenyl cyclopentanol

7,7-Dimethyl-2-methylenenorbornan-1-ol, a strained bicyclic 1-alkenyl cyclopentanol, undergoes Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement to fenchone under treatment with a catalytic amount of PdCl2(PPh3)2 in refluxing N-methylpyrrolidin-2-one. The described reaction constitutes the first example of the palladium(II)-catalyzed ring expansion of 1-alkenyl cyclopentanols to the corresponding cyclohexanones.