Samarium (II) iodide in the presence of HMPA effectively promotee the intramolecular coupling of unactivatad olefinic ketones by a reductive ketyl-oleh radical-cyclization process. The reaction is quite general for the formation of 5 and Smembered carbocycles and even provides modest yields in leas facile cyclization processee a~ evidenced by the generation of methylcyclooctanol via an sendo cyclization. Sequential radical cyclization- ...