The first asymmetric synthesis of (+)-methyl cembra-1,3,7,11-tetraene-16-carboxynate, a naturally occurring cembrane-type macrocyclic diterpene isolated from Sinularia mayi, was achieved via general approach by employing an intramolecular McMurry coupling and Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation as the key steps from readily available starting materials. The synthesis presented here verifies that the absolute configuration of compound 1 was assumed as 15R.
