Asymmetric microbial reduction of a series of 2, 2-disubstituted 1, 3-cycloalkanediones with bakers' yeast was examined as an example of an enzyme-catalyzed distinction of a substrate containing two trigonal carbonyl centers with stereoheterotropic faces and one prochiral tetrahedral carbon center where monoreduction generates two chiral centers. Synthetically useful yeast-mediated reductions were achieved for cyclopentanoid and ...