Syntheses of trans-9, 10-dihydroxy-9, lO-dihydrobenzo [e] pyrene (14b) and of trans-4, 5- dihydroxy-4, 5-dihydro-benzo [e] pyrene (17a) are described. The preparation of the non-K- region trans-dihydrodiol 14b proceeded via standard procedures from 9-oxo-9, 10, 11, 12- tetrahydrobenzo [e] pyrene (7), the synthesis of which is described. Intramolecular cyclization of methyl 4-pyrenylbutyrate (6) in HF produced primarily the undesired seven- ...