Employed as a common chiral starting material,(-1-quinic acid (7) was converted in a concise manner to both enantiomers of the P, y-unsaturated ketone 12. On the one hand,(+)- 12 was obtained by stereospecific borohydride reduction of the conjugated ketone intermediate 9, transketalization, and oxidation of the derived homoallylic alcohol using the Dess-Martin periodinane reagent. Alternatively, dehydration of the tertiary alcohol 13 and ...