Nippon Soda Co., Ltd.

Suntory Limited

Kenichi Noguchi

Masaji Ishiguro

Takashi Nakatsuka

Hiromitsu Iwata

Osamu Miyahara

Kiyoharu Nakayama

A process for preparing an optically active tetrahydro-2-furoic acid is disclosed. The process comprises (i) reacting (.+-.)-tetrahydro-2-furoic acid with an optically active amine resolver of the following formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is a lower alkyl group and R.sub.2 represents an alkyl group or ar aryl group, provided that R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are different from each other, thus producing an optically active diastereomer salt, and (ii) decomposing the diastereomer salt. According to the process, a high purity, optically active tetrahydro-2-furoic acid can be prepared at a high yield using an amine resolver. The amine resolver can be recovered at a high yield and high purity.

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Toyama, Japan

Kenichi Noguchi