The Diels-Alder reactions of N-phenylmaleimide and new chiral 2-sulfinylbutadienes, which were prepared from MerCO[(1R,2S,3R)-3-mercaptocamphan-2-ol], produced cycloadducts up to 99% d.e. in the presence of LiClO4 at ambient temperature. On the other hand, we found the facial selectivity of the cycloaddition changed greatly among various Lewis acids. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd