“…[5] Herein we present the first kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols by chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed acylation. [6] This method provides effective access to optically pure 2-arylcycloalkanols, [7] which are structural motifs of biologically significant compounds, such as lycorine (1), [8] epicatechin (2), [9] 425 (3), [10] and L-733,060 (4) [11] (Scheme 2).Although Brønsted acids promote the acylation of alcohols with an acid anhydride, [12] a systematic study of their catalytic activity has not been reported. At the outset of this study, several Brønsted acids were tested in the acylation of cis-2-phenylcyclohexanol (5 a) with isobutyric anhydride (6 a).…”