Veticadinol synthesis

In his synthesis of the cadinane-sesquiterpene veticadinol (69), Lutz Tietze employed a sequence of Knoevenagel condensation of (i )-citronellal (66) and dimethylmalonate followed by an ene reaction provide 68 with the requisite trans stereochemistry in what was to become the decalin core of veticadinol 69. ... 

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