Regiospecific approaches to 6-deoxyanthracyclinones, which have resulted in the synthesis of the novel anthracyclines 4-demethoxy-6-deoxydaunorubicin (2) and 6-deoxycarminomycin (3), are reported. The construction of the aglycone 4 is based on the coupling of l,4-dimethoxy-2-lithionaphthalene (10) to 1 formyl-2-carbomethoxy-4-acetylcyclohexane thioketal (11). A new improved regioselective route, which