1,2-Amino alcohols were synthesized by addition of organocuprate . BF3 2 (R=n-Bu, n-octyl, Me, phenethyl, Ph), organocopper . BF3 3 (R=Me, n-Bu), and organolithiums (R=n-Bu, n-octyl, Me, phenethyl, Ph) to an alpha-silyloxyaldimine 1 derived from commercially available (S)-ethyl lactate. The reactions with organocuprate . BF3 2 and organocopper . BF3 3 led to the anti isomers almost exclusively (anti:syn=>98:<2 for R=n-Bu, n-octyl, Me, phenethyl and anti:syn=95:5 for R=Ph, 52-93% isolated yields) and the syn isomers could be obtained with high stereoselectivities by using organolithiums (anti:syn=10:90-20:80, 41-71% isolated yields). Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.