Morphine has been at arget for synthetic chemists since Robinson proposed its correct structure in 1925, resulting in al arge number of total syntheses of morphine alkaloids. Here we report atotal synthesis of (AE)-morphine that employs two key strategic cyclizations:1 )ad iastereoselective lightmediated cyclization of an O-arylated butyrolactone to form atricyclic cis-fused benzofuran and 2) acascade ene-yne-ene ring closing metathesis to forge the tetracyclic morphine core. This approach enables as hort and stereoselective synthesis of morphine in an overall yield of 6.6 %.Morphine (1), named by Sertürner for its tendency to induce sleep,isthe most abundant alkaloid isolated from the opium poppy Papaver somniferum.[1] As the main constituent of opium, morphinesp ain relieving properties have been exploited for thousands of years,a nd in modern times have resulted in its place on the World Health Organizationslist of essential medicines.[2] Its correct structure was proposed by Robinson in 1925, [3] and was confirmed by Gates (through total synthesis,1 952) [4] and Hodgkin (using X-ray crystallography,1955).[5] Currently,all medicinal (and illicit) morphine is derived from natural sources;t here is no synthetic route that competes on scale and cost with isolation from natural sources.This problem has been elegantly outlined in arecent perspective from Hudlicky,w hich focuses on his groups chemoenzymatic approaches to the morphine skeleton, [6] and in other reviews which focus on the range of strategies employed in total syntheses of morphine alkaloids.[7] Nonetheless,t he combination of potent biological effects and ac omplex pentacyclic structure bearing five contiguous stereocentres has made morphine and its associated alkaloids an enduring challenge for synthetic chemistry,r esulting in more than 30 total or formal syntheses of morphine alkaloids. [8,9] Our proposed strategy for the total synthesis of morphine is outlined below (Scheme 1). It has been demonstrated by Fuchs that the piperidine ring in morphine (1)can be made by an intramolecular 1,6-addition of an amine analogous to that in 2.[10] This requires an a,b,g,d-unsaturated ketone,which we envisaged could be constructed via acascade ene-yne-ene ring closing metathesis from the heavily functionalized benzofuran 3. [11,12] Ametathesis cascade cyclization offers the potential for anew end-game to the total synthesis of morphine in which the requisite functional groups are installed prior to the formation of the Band Crings.This has the advantage of minimizing late-stage functional group interconversions once the ABCD tetracycle is complete. Theb enzofuran 3 could be synthesized from the tricyclic butyrolactone 4 by as eries of functional group interconversions to install the vinyl ketone and alkyne functional groups. We recognized that the cis-fused butyrolactone 4,bearing an all-carbon quaternary stereocentre,c ould be generated via ap hotocyclization from substituted butenolide 5,w ith the relative stereochemistry ac onsequence of the 5,5-c...