We describe a full account of our synthetic strategy leading to the first total synthesis of the manzamine alkaloid lissodendoric acid A . These efforts demonstrate that strained cyclic allenes are valuable synthetic building blocks and can be employed efficiently in total synthesis.A synthetic strategy leading to the first total synthesis of lissodendoric acid A is reported. The 12-step synthesis centers on an enantiospecific Diels-Alder cycloaddition of a strained azacyclic allene to construct the core of the natural product. The study demonstrates that strained cyclic allenes are valuable synthetic building blocks for total synthesis. image