“…Piers and Cheng have found that (-)-«-santonin can be converted into 1 via an eight-step sequence. 4 Although lengthy, this synthesis represents a significant improvement over the method of Howe and McQuillin, since 1 was obtained in about 20% yield overall. Fringuelli, Taticchi, and Traverso have recently reported an apparently useful synthesis of -cyperone.5 These workers found that the tricyclic enone 3, prepared by annelation of cis-4-caranone with 1-penten-3-one, undergoes preferential cleavage of the 8,11 bond of the cyclopropane ring with hydrogen bromide to form the 2-bromopropane derivative 4a which could be converted into a mixture of a-and d-cyperone on dehydrohalogenation.…”