“…Following the method of Couladouros and Vidali, to a solution of ( S )‐epoxide 4 (200 mg, 0.73 mmol) in N ‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (0.22 mL) was added LiBr (99 mg, 0.95 mmol) and PPTS (183 mg, 0.73 mmol) and stirred at room temperature for 4 h. The reaction was quenched with saturated aqueous NaHCO 3 solution (15 mL), extracted with EtOAc (2 × 15 mL), washed with brine (30 mL), dried over Na 2 SO 4 , concentrated under reduced pressure, and chromatographed (1:9‐1:4 EtOAc:PE) to yield first ( E )‐9‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐2,6‐dimethylnon‐6‐en‐3‐one (10 mg, 5%) as a colorless oil, second bromohydrin 5a (66 mg, 25%) as a colorless oil, and third, bromohydrin 5b (119 mg, 46%) as a colorless oil. Bromohydrin 5a : R f = 0.32 (1:9 EtOAc:PE); [α] D 24 ‐10.6 ( c 1.3, CH 2 Cl 2 ); IR ν max 3600‐3200, 2958, 2926, 2855, 2835, 1612 cm ‐1 ; 1 H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl 3 ) δ 7.14 (d, J = 8.6 Hz, 2H), 6.86 (d, J = 8.6 Hz, 2H), 5.27 (tq, J = 6.8, 1.4 Hz, 1H), 3.82 (s, 3H), 3.40 (dd, J = 10.1, 3.0 Hz, 1H), 2.63 (t, J = 7.5 Hz 2H), 2.37‐2.25 (m, 3H), 2.17‐2.05 (m, 2H), 1.82 (s, 3H), 1.81‐1.72 (m, 1H), 1.75 (s, 3H), 1.59 (s, 3H), 1.49 (dddd, J = 14.0, 10.3, 8.8, 5.2 Hz, 1H) ppm; 13 C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl 3 ) δ 157.7, 135.1, 134.4, 129.4, 124.6, 113.7, 79.0, 75.4, 55.3, 36.4, 35.1, 31.1, 30.1 (×2), 28.9, 16.0 ppm; MS (CI + , NH 3 ) m/z 374, 372 [M + NH 4 ] + ; HRMS (CI + , NH 3 ) calcd.…”