The thermally induced benzocyclobutene-o-quinodi-methane interconversion has been exploited recently for the construction of complex polycyclic compounds. 2 The synthetic design involves interception of a nascent o-quinodimethane by a remote multiple bond in an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction. The requisite starting material for such a process is a benzocyclobutene appropriately elaborated at the 1-position. Conventional approaches to ...