An optical resolving reagent comprising at least one of compounds represented by the following formulae (1) and (2) (1) (2) (wherein R.sup.1 to R.sup.8 each represents hydrogen or C.sub.1-20 alkyl; R.sup.9 represents optionally substituted C.sub.1-20 alkyl, optionally substituted C.sub.1-20 alkenyl, formyl, or acyl; and R.sup.10 represents C.sub.1-6 alkyl; provided that the molecule represented by the formula (1) is of the cis configuration with respect to R.sup.9 and OR.sup.10); and a method of optically resolving with the optical resolving reagent an alcohol having an asymmetric carbon atom in the molecule and represented by the formula (3): (R.sup.11)(R.sup.12)(R.sup.13)COH (wherein R.sup.11, R.sup.12, and R.sup.13 each represents hydrogen or optionally substituted C.sub.1-20 alkyl, provided that at least one of R.sup.11, R.sup.12, and R.sup.13 is not hydrogen). The method of optical resolution is highly suitable for general purposes. By the method, a mixture of optical isomers of any of various alcohols can be optically resolved easily and industrially advantageously. ##STR00001##