Starting from 4-substituted cyclohexanones, a practical synthetic route to enantiopure 6- substituted cis-decahydroquinolines has been developed, the key steps being a stereoselective cyclocondensation of an unsaturated δ-keto ester derivative with (R)- phenylglycinol and the stereoselective hydrogenation of the resulting tricyclic oxazoloquinolone lactams.
