Stereospecific syntheses of baccatin III constructs bearing an aromatic C-ring (2a and 2b) have been demonstrated. A key step involves the use of an intramolecular Heck olefination reaction to form the C-10-C-11 bond (see transformations 15 --> 16 and 27 --> 28). Novel stereospecific reactions en route to 2a and 2b were also discovered (see 8 --> 10, 8 --> 23, 13 --> 14, and 25 --> 26).