Abstract The asymmetric dihydroxylation of geranyl acetate, neryl acetate and trans, trans- farnesyl acetate was studied using the new Sharpless' ligands (DHQD) 2-PHAL and (DHQ) 2-PHAL. High enantioselectivity was always observed. High positional selectivity for the 6, 7- olefin was observed in the case of the monoterpene acetates.