Abstract A convergent aromatic annulation strategy based on the Michael addition of the dimethyl-1, 3-acetonedicarboxylate 1 anion to 2-hexynal 2, followed by a regiocontrolled Dieckmann-type cyclization, has been applied to a total synthesis of the antibiotic, DB-2073 I. This tandem annulation reaction generates the fully substituted aromatic intermediate 3, which was transformed by a five-step sequence to I. In recent years we have developed a ...