New compounds containing bicyclic fused rings, one of which being a phenyl moiety connected by an aliphatic chain to a cycloalkyl or aryl moiety, and pharmaceutically active salts thereof are useful as RAR selective retinoid agonists. Furthermore, such retinoic acid receptor agonists, particularly retinoic acid receptor &ggr; (RAR&ggr;) selective agonists, are useful for the treatment of emphysema and associated pulmonary diseases, as well as for the therapy and prophylaxis of dermatological disorders, for the therapy and prophylaxis of malignant and premalignant epithelial lesions, tumors and precancerous changes of the mucous membrane in the mouth, tongue, larynx, esophagus, bladder, cervix and colon.