A very expedient and efficient new route toward taiwaniaquinoids, bearing the 4a-methyltetrahydrofluorene skeleton, is reported. Key steps are the intramolecular Friedel−Crafts alkylation of an aryldiene and the degradative oxidation of a methylenedioxy group; the latter process could also be utilized for building the 2-hydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone unit, which is frequently found in natural products. Utilizing
The synthesis of the abeo-abietane-type diterpenoids, i.e., (−)-dichroanal B, (−)-dichroanone, and taiwaniaquinone H, was achieved by using the intramolecular asymmetric Heckreaction. Our synthetic routes required fewer steps and gave a much higher overall yield and ee within shorter steps than those for racemic and antipodal forms reported to date (10, 12, and 13 steps with an overall yield of 50%