An acetal-initiated Prins bicyclization approach has been developed for the stereoselective synthesis of hexahydrofuro[3,4-c]furan lignans. This also provides a direct way to generate a new series of octahydropyrano[3,4-c]pyran derivatives in a single-step process.
![Graphical abstract: Acetal-initiated Prins bicyclization for the synthesis of hexahydrofuro-[3,4-c]furan lignans and octahydropyrano[3,4-c]pyran derivatives](http://hg.y866.cn/compound/lib/scimg/usr/1/C4OB00305E.jpg)