A lactone-fused cyclohexadiene as a versatile platform for diversified synthesis of 5,6,5-tricyclic scaffoldsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details, and 1H and 13C NMR charts for all products. CCDC 1043689, 1043693 and 1050808. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c5ob00729a

A lactone-fused cyclohexadiene, which can be readily prepared by ruthenium( iii )-catalyzed [2 + 2 + 2] cyclization of an enediyne, functioned as a versatile platform for the stereoselective synthesis of differently functionalized 5,6,5-tricyclic scaffolds. A new lactone-fused cyclohexadiene platform for the stereoselective synthesis of differently functionalized 5,6,5-tricyclic scaffolds.