Acetylpanaxydol (1-Ac), PQ-3 (2) and panaxydiol (3) and their optical isomers were synthesized from L-(+)-diethyl tartrate. The absolute configurations of 1-Ac, 2 and 3 were determined to be 1-Ac (3R,9R,10S), 2 (9R,10S) and 3 (3R,10S), respectively, by comparisons of their opticalrotations and the NMR data of their MTPA esters with those of natural products.