(4R)-4-[(1R)-1,2-Dihydroxy-ethyl]-1-[(1R)-1-phenyl-ethyl]pyrrolidin-2-one

The title compound, C(14)H(19)NO(3), was obtained as one of the two isomers of a Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxy-lation reaction of (1S)-1-[(1R)-1-phenyl-ethyl]-4-vinyl-pyrrolidin-2-one. The absolute stereochemistry of this isomer was determined from the known stereochemistry (R) at the bridge C atom between the phenyl and pyrrolidine rings. The mol-ecules form one-dimensional tapes along the b axis via hydrogen bonding between the carbonyl O atom and the alcohol groups of neighbouring mol-ecules. These assemble into sheets via inter-digitative stacking of the phenyl rings and C-H⋯O inter-actions.