Racemic 2-acyl-3-hydroxymethyl-4-butanolides were resolved through a lipase-catalyzed acylation with acetic anhydride. Optically active forms of 2-butyryl-3-hydroxymethyl-4-butanolide 14 obtained were used to prepare enantiomers of IM-2 10, the autoregulator from Streptomyces sp. FRI-5. The absolute configuration of IM-2 was deduced to be (2R,3R,6R).
Mori, Kenji; Chiba, Naoki, Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 1990, # 1, p. 31 - 37