A 1:1 mixture of the trisubstituted delta-lactones 11a and 11b was subjected to thermodynamically equilibrated conditions to give predominantly 11b with axial substituents rather than 11a with all equatorial ones, in contrast to the Prelog-Djerassi lactone derivatives 3a and 3b, and, further surprisingly, it has been found that the disubstituted lactone 10 also adopts a chair conformation with axial substituents.