Absolute Configuration of Ketone Cyanohydrins by 1H NMR: The Special Case of Polar Substituted Tertiary Alcohols

Absolute Stereochemical Determination of Organic Molecules through Induction of Helicity in Host-Guest Complexes

Stereochemistry is a fundamental molecular property with important ramifications for structure, function, and activity of organic molecules. The basic building blocks of living organisms (amino acids and sugars) exhibit a precisely selected set of molecular handedness that has evolved over millions of years. The absolute stereochemistry of these building blocks is manifested in the structure and function of the cell machinery (e.g., enzymes, proteins, etc.), which are essential components of life. In the many chemical subdisciplines, molecular stereochemistry is exceedingly important and is often a strong determinant of structure and function. Besides its biological implications, the centrally important role of stereochemistry in many disciplines of chemistry and related fields has led to tremendous effort and activity, highlighted by the success in stereoselective syntheses of a host of functionalities. In the present climate, it is often the difficulty of assigning absolute stereochemistry as opposed to synthesis, which has become a nontrivial challenge, requiring the attention of the community. There will not be a general solution to this problem, as each system will have its own unique requirements and challenges; however, the need for rapid, routine, and microscale analysis is apparent. This is especially true with parallel and high-throughput arrays for screening conditions and catalysts, generating a large number of samples that require analysis.In this Account, we summarize our contribution to this field through the development of molecular receptors for sensing molecular asymmetry. These methodologies strive to unambiguously assign the absolute configuration of asymmetric center(s). To accomplish this task, our laboratory has designed a variety of host molecules, bearing various binding elements, to form stable complexes with chiral molecules (guests). During this complexation event, the stereochemistry of a target molecule induces a supramolecular chirality (i.e., helicity) within the host system. The design of the host system is such that the helicity of the host/guest complex can be observed and assigned via Exciton Coupled Circular Dichroism (ECCD), a nonempirical technique for identifying handedness, which is correlated back to the absolute stereochemistry of the bound chiral molecule. Taking advantage of the high sensitivity of chiroptical techniques (in terms of the required amount of sample for analysis) and fast response time, these methodologies offer a microscale, rapid, and nonempirical solution for assignment of absolute stereochemistry.The first part of this Account describes application of porphyrin tweezers as reporters of chirality for the absolute stereochemical determination of various classes of organic molecules. This methodology is suitable to report the absolute configuration of organic molecules that contain two binding elements (nitrogen or oxygen based functionalities). In the second part, host systems that do not require two sites of attachment to form ECCD active complexes will be described. This enables the absolute stereochemical assignment of challenging chiral molecules with functional groups lacking routine techniques for analysis.

A simple ternary ion-pair complexation protocol for testing the enantiopurity and the absolute configurational analysis of acid and ester derivatives

The ternary ion-pair complexation protocol for rapid testing of the enantiopurity and the assignment of absolute configurations of various acid and ester derivatives.

The assignment of the configuration for α-hydroxy acid esters using a CEC strategy

A simple and efficient (1)H NMR method for determining the absolute configuration of chiral α-hydroxy acid esters using a competing enantioselective conversion (CEC) strategy was developed. The α-hydroxy acid esters were acylated in the presence of Feng's chiral N,N'-dioxide-scandium(iii) complex, and the faster reaction was identified when one enantiomer of the chiral α-hydroxy acid ester was treated with both enantiomers of the ligand by NMR analysis of the reaction mixture without further purification. A mnemonic is presented to aid the assignment of the absolute configuration of the substrates.

Chiral solvating agents for cyanohydrins and carboxylic acids

We have shown that a structure as simple as an ion pair of (R)- or (S)-mandelate and dimethylamminopyridinium ions possesses structural features that are sufficient for NMR enantiodiscrimination of cyanohydrins. Moreover, (1)H NMR data of cyanohydrins of known configuration obtained in the presence of the mandelate-dimethylaminopyridinium ion pair point to the existence of a correlation between chemical shifts and absolute configuration of cyanohydrins. Mandelate-DMAPH(+) ion pair and mandelonitrile form a 1:1 complex with an association constant of 338 M(-1) (DeltaG(0), -3.4 kcal/mol) for the (R)-mandelonitrile/(R)-mandelate-DMAPH(+) and 139 M(-1) (DeltaG(0), -2.9 kcal/mol) for the (R)-mandelonitrile/(S)-mandelate-DMAPH(+) complex. To understand the origin of enantiodiscrimination, the geometry optimization and energy minimization of the models of ternary complexes of (S)-mandelonitrile/(R)-mandelate/DMAPH(+) and (S)-mandelonitrile/(S)-mandelate/DMAPH(+) complexes was performed using DFT methodology (B3LYP) with the 6-31+G(d) basis set in Gaussian 3.0. Further, analysis of optimized molecular model obtained from theoretical studies suggested that (i) DMAP may be replaced with other amines, (ii) the hydroxyl group of mandelic acid is not necessary for stabilization of ternary complex and may be replaced with other groups such as methyl, (iii) the ion pair should form a stable ternary complex with any hydrogen-bond donor, provided its OH bond is sufficiently polarized, and (iv) alpha-H of racemic mandelic acid should also get resolved with optically pure mandelonitrile. These inferences were experimentally verified, which not only validated the proposed model but also led to development of a new chiral solvating agent for determination of ee of carboxylic acids and absolute configuration of aryl but not alkyl carboxylic acids.

13C NMR as a general tool for the assignment of absolute configuration

(13)C NMR, alone or in combination with (1)H NMR, allows the assignment of the absolute configuration of chiral alcohols, amines, carboxylic acids, thiols, cyanohydrins, sec,sec-diols and sec,sec-aminoalcohols, derivatized with appropriate chiral auxiliaries. This extends the assignment possibilities of NMR to fully deuterated and to nonproton containing compounds.