The enzyme-mediated enantioselective hydrolysis of cycliccarbonates is disclosed. Racemic 4-(2-benzyloxy)ethyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-one (1a) was enantioselectively hydrolyzed by porcine pancreas lipase (PPL) to give optically active (R)-1a and (S)-4-benzyloxybutane-1,2-diol (2a). PPL also catalyzed the hydrolysis of seveal five-membered cycliccarbonates with high enatioselectivity.