Miniature high-throughput chemosensing of yield, ee, and absolute configuration from crude reaction mixtures

High-throughput experimentation (HTE) has emerged as a widely used technology that accelerates discovery and optimization processes with parallel small-scale reaction setups. A high-throughput screening (HTS) method capable of comprehensive analysis of crude asymmetric reaction mixtures (eliminating product derivatization or isolation) would provide transformative impact by matching the pace of HTE. We report how spontaneous in situ construction of stereodynamic metal probes from readily available, inexpensive starting materials can be applied to chiroptical chemosensing of the total amount, enantiomeric excess (ee), and absolute configuration of a wide variety of amines, diamines, amino alcohols, amino acids, carboxylic acids, α-hydroxy acids, and diols. This advance and HTS potential are highlighted with the analysis of 1 mg of crude reaction mixtures of a catalytic asymmetric reaction. This operationally simple assay uses a robust mix-and-measure protocol, is amenable to microscale platforms and automation, and provides critical time efficiency and sustainability advantages over traditional serial methods.