LiAlH4 previously treated with 2.5 equiv. of (S)-(+) or (R)-(−)-2-(2-isoindolinyl) butan-1-ol 1 reduced the six α-aminophenones 4–9 into the corresponding optically active β- aminoalcohols 10–15 whose ee's were in the range 40–97% after chromatography and recrystallization. The asymmetric reduction of the ortho-dimethylaminobenzophenone 18, using the same reducing agents afforded the enantiomerically pure benzhydrols (R)-(−)- ...