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Published on: August 18, 2017
Chirality sensing with stereodynamic biphenolate zinc complexes
Keith W Bentley1, Zeus A de Los Santos1, Mary J Weiss1
1Department of Chemistry, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Abstract:
Two bidentate ligands consisting of a fluxional polyarylacetylene framework with terminal phenol groups were synthesized. Reaction with diethylzinc gives stereodynamic complexes that undergo distinct asymmetric transformation of the first kind upon binding of chiral amines and amino alcohols. The substrate-to-ligand chirality imprinting at the zinc coordination sphere results in characteristic circular dichroism signals that can be used for direct enantiomeric excess (ee) analysis. This chemosensing approach bears potential for high-throughput ee screening with small sample amounts and reduced solvent waste compared to traditional high-performance liquid chromatography methods.
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