general way to synthesize 1-hydroxycycloalkene-1-carboxylic-acid derivatives from 2-(tert-butyl)-2-methyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-one (1), a chiralequivalent of glycolic acid, is reported. The method is based on a double enolate alkylation of the glycolate derivative, followed by ring closing metathesis. A formal synthesis of (−)-quinic acid is reported to demonstrate the potential of this approach.