The bislactones rac-tetrahydro-2, 2Ј-bifuranyl-5,5Ј-dione (rac-12) and its diastereomer meso-25 were prepared from endo- 5-hydroxy-9-oxabicyclo[4.2.1]nonan-2-one (endo-10) and endo-6-hydroxy-9-oxabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-2-one (endo-11) or exo-5-hydroxy-9-oxabicyclo[4.2.1]nonan-2-one (exo-23), respectively, under the conditions of a Baeyer−Villiger oxidation with trifluoroperacetic acid. The latter compounds were obtained by O-heterocylization of cis,cis-cycloocta-1,5-diene (1) by either reaction with peracids followed by hydrolysis and Jones oxidation or ruthenium tetraoxide oxidation, respectively. The optically active bislactone (R,R)-(−)-12 was prepared in a similar manner from (1S,5R,6R)-(+)-10 and (1R,5R,6R)-(+)-11, which, in turn, were obtained by lipasecatalyzed asymmetric acetylation of the corresponding diols meso-2 and rac-3 and subsequent Jones oxidation of