(3R,4S,5S)-4-Hydr-oxy-3-methyl-5-[(2S,3R)-3-methyl-pent-4-en-2-yl]tetra-hydro-furan-2-one.

The title compound, C(11)H(18)O(3), was synthesized to prove the relative configuration of the corresponding acyclic C1-C8 stereopentade. It crystallizes with two mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit, which show only slight differences. The mol-ecules are linked via O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, resulting in two crystallographically independent chains of mol-ecules propagating in the a-axis direction. The absolute configuration was known from the synthesis.