Baker's yeast reduction of 3-(2-nitroethyl)-tetrahydro-4H-pyran-4-one
10 and 3-(2-nitroethyl)-tetrahydro-4H-thiopyran-4-one 11 gave the corr
esponding optically active cis alcohols with good diastereo- and enant
ioselectivity. The unreacted optically active ketones were also isolat
ed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.