THE studies on Dieckmann cyclization of various polyesters and utilization of the resulting products for the synthesis of steroids constitute a part of major research activities of our laboratory covering a long period. Our first attempt consisted in employing the fl-keto ester, 2,3-dicar-* The main sul ject-matter of this article was presented at the post-IUPAC meeting held in February, 1972 at the National Chemical Laboratory, Poona-8. India, and later it was presented in greater details with added materials as a series of lectures at the Kurukshctra University in