. Can. J. Chem. 65,704 (1987). A synthesis of the civet constituent, (+)-(S,S)-(cis-6-methyltetrahydropyran-2-yl)acetic acid, is described, in which the key stereochemistry of the chiral starting material is set by an enantiotopically selective, porcine pancreatic lipase-catalyzed, hydrolysis of a meso diester.J. BRYAN JONES et R. SCOTT HINKS. Can. J. Chem. 65,704 (1987). On dCcrit une synthbse du constituant du civet, I'acide (+)-(methyl-6-cis tktrahydropyrannyl-2) acttique-(S,S), dans laquelle la stkrCochimie clk du produit de dCpart chiral est obtenue par une hydrolyse CnantiosClective d'un diester mkso qui est effectuCe par la catalyse d'une lipase pancrkatique du porc.[Traduit par la revue]The broad spectrum of new asymmetric synthetic opportunities opened up by the exploration of the chiral catalytic properties of enzymes is now well documented (1). Stereospecific transformations on symmetrical substrates are particularly attractive in this regard, with the commercially available porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) being one of the most widely applied of the enzymes in current use for this purpose (2). In this paper we report a new synthesis of the optically active civet constituent 8 from a PPL-generated chiron.(+)-(S,S)-(cis-6-methyltetrahydropyran-2-yl)acetic acid (8) is a constituent of a glandular secretion of the civet cat (3), whose synthesis, both of the optically active (4) and racemic (5) forms, has attracted considerable attention. Of these syntheses, only the latest one of Keinan et al. (4d), which exploits alcohol dehydrogenase stereospecificity, has been based on an enzymically generated chiron. Our current PPL-based approach is outlined in Scheme 1.The meso diester 1 starting material was readily prepared from 4H-pyran-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (9) (6) in 69% overall yield by the method summarized in Scheme 2.The key stereochemistry of the starting chiron for the synthesis was set by stereoselective PPL-catalyzed hydrolysis of 1 to give the alcohol-ester (-)-2 of 55% e.e. (enantiomeric excess) in 77% isolated yield. Oxidation of 2 + 3 proceeded smoothly in 94% yield. Homologation of 3 was effected in 41% yield by the Arndt-Eistert procedure, a reaction that is known to proceed with retention of configuration at the CY-position of the carboxyl function (7). The remaining steps of transesterification (4 + 5), tosylation (5 + 6), reduction (6 + 7), and oxidation (7 + 8) were achieved in quantitative, 88%, 68%, and 76% yields respectively. The overall yield of the civet constituent 8 from 2 was 18%, with the target product having the same e.e. as the starting chiron 2. The enantiomeric excesses of 2 and 8 were determined directly. The alcohol-ester 2 was oxidatively converted to its corresponding lactone, and hence to the (R,R)-butane-2,3-diol orthoester, for e.e. measurement by the standard glc method (8). The e.e. of 8 was established by its conversion to the methyl ester with diazomethane, followed by 'H nrnr examination of the methoxyl protons in the presence of E u ( h f~)~ (9).Since the stereoisom...