Enantiomerically pure pantolactone has been employed as a chiral auxiliary for acrylate in the highly diastereoselective Diels–Alder reaction with cyclopentadiene. 3 A brief report of the enzymatic resolution of pantolactone has been published. 4 Herein, we report our results on the resolution of pantolactone by enzyme-catalysed acylation, and the application of this methodology to the direct preparation of the acrylate derivative. ... Since the acrylate derivative (S)-3 can be ...