“…For the preparation of the 1,5‐diene precursor 2 there is a set of straightforward published methods available (Scheme ). One could either use an olefination strategy of succinic aldehyde ( 3 ) (e.g., accessible from butane‐1,4‐diol by alcohol oxidation,,,– ozonolysis of ( Z , Z )‐cycloocta‐1,5‐diene ( 4 ), or from 2,5‐dimethoxytetrahydrofuran by acetal hydrolysis,) or conduct a cross metathesis using ( Z , Z )‐cycloocta‐1,5‐diene ( 4 ) or 1,5‐hexadiene ( 5 ) and ethyl acrylate ( 6 ) (Scheme ). For our purpose, we found the latter route to be most convenient because it delivered the desired E , E ‐isomer 2 in high yield and excellent double‐bond stereoselectivity .…”