Acid-decomposable ester compound suitable for use in resist material

An exo-form ester compound of the following general formula (1):

• wherein R1 is selected from among (i) alicyclic saturated hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of:
• (ii) hydrocarbons belonging to (i) in which at least one hydrogen atom at an arbitrary position is replaced by a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl, (iii) hydrocarbons belonging to (i) and (ii) in which a carbon-carbon bond at an arbitrary position is unsaturated to introduce at least one aromatic ring, (iv) hydrocarbons belonging to (i) to (iii) in which at least one CH2, CH or C at an arbitrary position is replaced by O, N, NH, S, SO or SO2, and (v) hydrocarbons belonging to (i) to (iv) in which at least one hydrogen atom at an arbitrary position is replaced by a group of atoms selected from among a halogen atom, hydroxyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, formyl, formyloxy, alkylcarbonyl, arylcarbonyl, carboxy, alkoxycarbonyl, aryloxycarbonyl, cyano, amino, alkylamino, arylamino, mercapto, alkylthio, arylthio, carbamoyl, alkylcarbamoyl, arylcarbamoyl, alkylcarbonylamino, arylcarbonylamino, sulfo, oxo, and imino group, or an alkyl or aryl containing said group of atoms;
• R2 is a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1 to 8 carbon atoms or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group of 6 to 20 carbon atoms;
• R3 to R12 each are hydrogen or a monovalent hydrocarbon group of 1 to 15 carbon atoms which may contain a hetero atom or R3 to R12, taken together, may form a ring, and when they form a ring, R3 to R12 may, independently, represent divalent hydrocarbon groups of 1 to 15 carbon atoms which may contain a hetero atom, or two of R3 to R12 which are attached to adjacent carbon atoms may directly bond together to form a double bond;
• and n is an integer of 1 to 8, with the proviso that the formula also represents an enantiomer.