The approach followed for the synthesis of compounds 1-4 was designed to allow the preparation of a variety of cadinanes and to permit unambiguous confirmation of structures for which assignments were still open to question. The work can be divided into two stages: construction of 7-methoxy-a-calacorene (1 1): O a simple, representative cadinane, and the subsequent adjustment of the oxidation level and oxygenation pattern as required.
