Dimethyl 7-meth­oxy­tetra­cyclo­[6.4.0.0^2,4.0^3,7]dodeca-1(12),5,8,10-tetra­ene-3,4-dicarboxyl­ate

The title compound, C₁₇H₁₆O₅, is a previously unreported substituted semibulvalene cage compound (that is, a tricyclic hydro­carbon formed from one cyclo­propane and two cyclo­pentene rings which also has one double bond fused to a benzene ring). It has one meth­oxy substituent attached to the bridgehead C atom that links only the two cyclo­pentene rings and two methyl carboxyl­ate groups located on the C atom shared by all three non-benzene rings and that shared only between the cyclo­propane and the cyclo­pentene rings. The stereochemistry of the two enanti­omers (racemate) that assemble in each unit cell is RRRS and SSSR. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked via C—H...O hydrogen bonds and C—H...π inter­actions, forming double-layered sheets lying perpendicular to the a axis.