We have shown that the ketal based Claisen rearrangement can be useful for generating vicinal quaternary and tertiary-quaternary centers by suitable substitution on the reacting 2- cyclohexenols and cycloalkanone ketal. A rapid and efficient method for preparing hindered cycloalkanone ketals in very pure form is presented, as well as a useful modification for synthesizing the required 2-cyclohexenols from alkyl anisoles with a minimum number of ...