Patent ID: 8115008

Claim:
A method for producing an optically active ester and an optically active carboxylic acid comprising: reacting a racemic carboxylic acid with an alcohol shown by the formula (a) below, in the presence of a benzoic anhydride or its derivative and a catalyst shown by any of the formulae (e) and (f) below, and selectively esterifying one enantiomer of the racemic carboxylic acid, wherein formula (a) has the structure where R a represents a phenyl group, naphthyl group, anthryl group, or phenanthryl group, which may have a substituent group, formulae (e) and (f) have the respective structures where X represents a phenyl group, and the racemic carboxylic acid is shown by the formula (g) below where R g1 and R g2 represent organic groups which differ from each other, R g1 is an alkyl group, which may have a substituent group, and R g2 is an aryl group, a heteroaryl group, an alkenyl group, or an alkynyl group, which may have a substituent group.