Abstract
Ethyl lactate was used for the first time as a solvent for acetophenone reduction to phenylethanol by borane and sodium tetrahydridoborate. Moderate enantiomeric excess was obtained with the pure reducing agents that could be improved up to 46% by employing stoichiometric amounts of the Lewis acid ZnCl2. These are the highest e.e. values published for solvent‐induced chiral synthesis.