Racemic and optically active alpha,beta-dibenzyl-gamma-butyrolactones (of synthetic origin) were hydroxylated in the alpha position with respect to the carbonyl group, using oxygen in the presence of LHDS. This led to (-)-trachelogenin 1, (-)-nortrachelogenin 2 and (+)-wikstromol 3, whose interesting pharmacological properties were recently described. These natural lignans were correlated to (+/-)-methyltrachelogenin 12 whose relative structure was definitely established by X-ray cristallography.