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A Symmetric Recognition Motif between Vicinal Diols: The Fourfold Grip in Ethylene Glycol Dimer
Franz Kollipost1, Katharina E Otto1, Martin A Suhm2
1Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Tammannstr. 6, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
Ethylene glycol has a transiently chiral, asymmetric global minimum structure, but it favors a highly symmetric, achiral dimer arrangement which has not been considered or found in previous quantum-chemical studies. Complementary FTIR and Raman spectroscopy in supersonic jets allows for the detection and straightforward assignment of this four-fold hydrogen-bonded dimer, which introduces an interesting supramolecular binding motif for vicinal diols and provides a strong case for transient chirality synchronization.
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