Our synthesis was started with preparation of Michael acceptor 9 (Scheme [2] ). Commercially available cyano acetal 7 was exposed to toluenesulfonic acid under refluxing conditions for 2 hours and the resulting aldehyde was treated with acetone in the presence of a catalytic amount of (S)-proline. [5] The aldol condensation proceeded cleanly to give aldol 8 and dehydrated 9 in 71% and 21% yields, respectively. The aldol was efficiently converted to the desired 9 ...