1. Add benzyl bromide (1.37 mL, 1.97g, 12.6 mmol), Ag2O (2.92 g, 12.6 mmol) to a stirred solution of methylL-lactate (1.00 mL, 1.09 g, 10.5 mmol) in DCM (40 mL).
2. Stir the reaction mixture in the dark at 23°C for 60 h and passage through Celite.

A mixture of Ag2O(3.1 g, 13.2 mmol), benzyl bromide (2.3 g, 13.2 mmol) and the ester (1.1 g, 10.6 mmol) in CH2Cl2 (20 mL) was stirred for 48 h at rt. After filtration, the solution was concentrated to provide the crude benzyl ether. KOH (0.6 g, 10.6 mmol) in water (10 mL) was added dropwise to a solution of ester in ethanol (10 mL) at 0 °C, and the reaction mixture stirred for 30 min. After extraction with ether (10 mL x 2), the aqueous phase was neutralized with 12 N HCl. The aqueous solution was then extracted with ether (10 mL x 2) and the combined organics dried over MgSO4 and concentrated in vacuo to give O-benzyl-(S)-lactic acid (1.5 g). O-benzyl-(S)-lactic acid, yield 80%