The enantioselective synthesis of the R-enantiomer of the marine natural product (S)-ypaoamide (5) is reported. The synthesis features both a flexible racemization-free approach to the 5-substituted 3-pyrrolin-2-one segment, and a lipase (CCL)-promoted deacetylation reaction to reach the orthogonal deprotection. Through this work the absolute configuration of the natural ypaoamide was determined as S.