The compound is used in organic chemistry as a reagent in the synthesis of many natural products including sterols, trisporic acids, and terpenoids.

Methylene iodide and two equivalents of ethyl acetoacetate react in the presence of sodium methoxide to form the diethyl ester of 2,4-diacetyl pentane.

[2][3] Soon after Hagemann, Emil Knoevenagel described a modified procedure to produce the same intermediate diethyl ester of 2,4-diacetyl pentane using formaldehyde and two equivalents of ethyl acetoacetate which undergo condensation in the presence of a catalytic amount of piperidine.

[3] Methyl vinyl ketone, ethyl acetoacetate, and diethyl-methyl-(3-oxo-butyl)-ammonium iodide react to form a cyclic aldol product.

Methyl vinyl ketone and ethyl acetoacetate undergo aldol cyclization in the presence of catalytic pyrrolidinum acetate or Triton B or sodium ethoxide to produce Hagemann's ester.