A number of salen-metal complexes were prepared and their enantioselective catalytic properties toward the asymmetric iodolactonization of(E)- and(Z)-5-substituted-4-pentenoic acid derivatives were investigated.The catalyst system based on salen-Co(Ⅱ)complex exhibited moderate to good enantioselectivity with the e.e.value ranging from 53% to 74%,as well as high regioselectivity of δ-vs.γ-iodolactones.The salen-Co(II)complex showed the highest enantioselectivity on the asymmetric iodolactonizations of(Z)-5-substituted-4-pentenoic acid derivatives among these reagent-controlled iodolactonization protocols known so far.