The bakers’ yeast reduction of 2-alkyl-3-oxobutyronitrile gave optically pure 2-alkyl-3-hydroxybutyronitriles. Especially 2-phenyl-3-oxobutyronitrile gave only syn diastereomer of 2-phenyl-3-hydroxybutyronitrile in high optical yield.
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Itoh et al. (1989) studied this question.