In one aspect, the disclosure relates to methods for preparation of intermediates useful for the preparation of terpenoid cores. In a further aspect, the disclosed methods pertain to the preparation of compounds comprising a terpenoid core or scaffold, such as 6/7/5 tricycloalkanes. The disclosed methods utilize abundant starting materials and simple reaction sequences that can be used to tunably and scalably assemble common terpenoid cores. In various aspects, the present disclosure pertains to compounds prepared using the disclosed methods. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.