Results Brown, Rothberg, and Vander Jagt5 described the facile synthesis of 1 from cyclopentadiene dimer. Methylation of the lithium enolate of 1 (Scheme I) with methyl iodide produced (*)-2 in 62% yield along with 9% of a symmetrical dimethyl compound, 3, and a trace of (&)-4. Prolonged exposure to base permitted some isomerization of
