Recent theoretical and experimental advances in the electronic circular dichroisms of planar chiral cyclophanes

The chiroptical properties, such as electronic and vibrational circular dichroism and optical rotation, of planar chiral cyclophanes have attracted much attention in recent years. Although the chemistry of cyclophanes has been extensively explored for more than 60 years, the studies on chiral cyclophanes are rather limited. Experimentally, the use of chiral stationary phases in HPLC becomes more popular and facilitates the enantiomer separation of chiral cyclophanes of interest. Almost all chiral cyclophanes can be readily separated, in analytical and preparative scales, most typically on a Daicel OD type column, which is based on cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate). The CD spectra of chiral cyclophanes are unique in their fairly large, significantly coupled Cotton effects observed in all the ¹B (b), ¹L (a), and ¹L (b) band regions. Theoretically, the time-dependent density functional theory, or TD-DFT, method becomes a cost-efficient, yet accurate, theoretical method to reproduce the electronic circular dichroisms and the absorption spectra of a variety of cyclophanes. The direct comparison of the experimental CD spectra with the theoretical ones readily leads to the unambiguous assignment of the absolute configuration of cyclophanes. In addition, the analysis of configuration interaction and molecular orbitals allows detailed interpretation of the electronic transitions and Cotton effects in the UV and CD spectra. Through the study of the CD spectra of chiral cyclophanes as model systems, the effects of intra- and intermolecular interactions on the chiroptical properties of molecules can be explored, and the results thus obtained are valuable in comprehensively elucidating the structure-chiroptical property relationship. In this review the recent progress in experimental and theoretical investigations of the electronic CD spectra of chiral cyclophanes is discussed.