A new family of thienolignanolides has been synthesized by means of co
njugate addition-alkylation of 5H-furan-2-one, followed by cyclization
and controlled epimerizations. The applicability of this versatile me
thodology is extended to the preparation of heteroaromatic analogues o
f biologically relevant cyclolignanolides. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science L
td. All rights reserved.