Scopine and pseudoscopine have been synthesised from cyclohepta-3, 5-dienol; the initial 1, 4-fuctionalisation of the diene is based on a nitroso-cycloaddition. The use of the N- benzyloxycarbonyl group throughout the scheme allows ultimate reductive deprotection to yield N-methyl or novel NH (nor-) derivatives without damage to the exo-epoxide of the title compounds. Preliminary investigation of nitroso-cycloaddition to 5, 6-epoxycyclohepta-1, ...