text: The calcium salt of atorvastatin is marketed under the trade name Lipitor for the lowering of blood cholesterol. The first enantioselective medicinal chemistry route to atorvastatin relied on a diastereoselective aldol reaction with a chiral ester to set one of the two alcohol stereocenters. In the commercial route to atorvastatin, this stereocenter is carried forward from the readily available food additive isoascorbic acid.