Patent ID: 6946557

Claim:
A process for producing optically active ethyl (3R, 5S, 6E)-7-[2-cyclopropyl-4-(4-fluorophenyl)quinolin-3-yl]-3,5-dihydroxy-6-heptenoate which comprises separating an optical isomer mixture of ethyl 7-[2-cyclopropyl-4-(4-fluorophenyl)quinolin-3-yl]-3,5-dihydroxy-6-heptenoate by a simulated moving bed chromatography employing a filler for liquid chromatography comprising a carrier and a cellulose tris(4-chlorophenyl carbamate) supported on the carrier wherein the amount of the cellulose tris(4-chlorophenyl carbamate) is at least 23 weight % based on the total weight of the carrier and the cellulose tris(4-chlorophenylcarbamate) under the condition that capacity factors k 1 ′ and/or k 2 ′ is at least 1, the capacity factors being calculated by the following formulae: k 1 ′=( v 1 − v 0 )/ v 0 , and k 2 ′=( v 2 − v 0 )/ v 0 wherein v 1 and v 2 each are the respective retention volumes of the optical isomers, which are the solutes, and v 0 is the dead volume.