We show that there are precisely two, up to conjugation, anti-involutions _ \ of the algebra of differential operators on the circle preserving the principal gradation. We classify the irreducible quasifinite highest weight representations of the central extension D \ of the Lie subalgebra of this algebra fixed by &_ \ , and find the unitary ones. We realize them in terms of highest weight representations of the central extension of the Lie algebra of infinite matrices with finitely many non-zero diagonals over the algebra C[u]Â(u m+1 ) and its classical Lie subalgebras of B, C and D types. Character formulas for positive primitive representations of D \ (including all the unitary ones) are obtained. We also realize a class of primitive representations of D \ in terms of free fields and establish a number of duality results between these primitive representations and finite-dimensional irreducible representations of finitedimensional Lie groups and supergroups. We show that the vacuum module V c of D + carries a vertex algebra structure and establish a relationship between V c for c # 1 2 Z and W-algebras.
Academic Press