The enantioselective synthesis was accomplished by J. K. Whitesell by adding Pseudomonas fluorescenslipase to racemictrans-2-phenylcyclohexyl chloroacetate.[1][2] This enzyme is able to hydrolyze the ester bond of the (−)-enantiomer but not the (+)-enantiomer. The (−)-cyclohexanol and the (+)-ester are separated by fractional crystallization and the isolated (+)-ester hydrolyzed to the (+)-cyclohexanol in a separate step.
^J. K. Whitesell, H. H. Chen and R. M. Lawrence (1985). "trans-2-Phenylcyclohexanol. A powerful and readily available chiral auxiliary". J. Org. Chem.50 (23): 4663–4664. doi:10.1021/jo00223a055.