The optically pure steroid (+)-15 has been synthesized from the easily accessible (+)-carboxylic acid 11 by a sequence of 7 steps in 50% overall yield. The key steps are the regioselective deprotonation/alkylation 7+13 → 14 and the thermal SO₂-extrusion/cycloaddition 14 → 15(Scheme 3). The compound (+)-15 has been readily converted to the naturally occurring (+)-estradiol (17) in 60% yield.