3-Acetoxy-1,4-dibenzyl-3-[1-(2-methoxyethyl)ethenyl]piperazine-2,5-dione (32) and its 2-hydroxyethyl analogue (46), which possess several of the structural features of the antibiotic bicyclomycin, have been synthesized by a route involving construction of the piperazine-2,5-dione ring at a late stage in the reaction sequence. Treatment of ethyl 3-(2-methoxyethyl)-3-methylglycidate with acetic anhydride and sulfuric acid gives ethyl 2-acetoxy-3-(2-methoxyethyl)-3-butenoate (10), which is converted to the corresponding carboxylic acid by ethanolysis, hydrolysis, and reacetylation. This, on conversion to its acid chloride and reaction with N,N′-dibenzylglycinamide, gives 2-acetoxy-N-benzyl-N-(2-benzylamino-2-oxocthyl)-3-(2methoxyethyl)-3-butenamide (21). Compound 21, on hydrolysis and oxidation, gives the corresponding 2-oxo compound, which on treatment with magnesium isopropylcyclohexylamide followed by acetylation yields 32. Demethylation of 21 with alkylthiotrimethylsilanes gives the corresponding 2-hydroxyethyl compound, whose tetrahydropyranyl ether on subjection to the above reaction sequence gives the 2-(tetrahydropyran-2-yloxy)ethyl analogue of 32. This, on hydrolysis, gives a 3: 1 mixture of compound 46 and a spiro compound formed by displacement of the acetoxyl group by the hydroxyl oxygen atom of 46.