Oxidation of accessible ( R)-3-chloropropane-1,2-diol to ( R)-3-chloro-2-hydroxypropanoic acid and subsequent reaction of the latter with ortho-substituted sodium phenoxide gave a number of enantiomerically pure 3-aryloxy-2-hydroxypropanoic acid which are intermediate products in the synthesis of nonracemic 4-aminochroman-3-ols.