Our inability to hydrolyze the stereoisomeric mixture of 3 efficiently under either acid or basic conditions and the low yield obtained from ethanolysis of 3 led us prepare 5 as a rneso-a in one step from 4.2 Since both meso and d, Z-stereoisomers of the 2, 3-diphenylsuccinic acid give 7b after cyclizati0n, 3-~ no attempt was made to separate the mixtures. The'H NMR spectrum of the diastereoisomeric mixture 6 shows one signal for the methoxy groups ( ...