Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Determination of the Absolute Configuration of β-Chiral Primary Alcohols Using the Competing Enantioselective
Alexander S Burns1, Alexander J Wagner1, Jennifer L Fulton1
1Department of Chemistry, University of California at Irvine , 1102 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, California 92697, United States.
Abstract:
A method for determining the absolute configuration of β-chiral primary alcohols has been developed. Enantioenriched alcohols were acylated in the presence of either enantiomer of the enantioselective acylation catalyst HBTM, and the faster reaction was determined by measuring product conversion using 1H NMR spectroscopic analysis. An empirical mnemonic was developed that correlates the absolute configuration of the alcohol to the faster reacting catalyst. Successful substrates for this method include primary alcohols that bear a "directing group" on the stereogenic center; directing groups include arenes, heteroarenes, enones, and halides.
Related Concept Videos
Conversion of Alcohols to Alkyl Halides
Prochirality
Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Acid-Catalyzed Hydration
Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Hydroboration
Hydroboration proceeds in a concerted fashion with the attack of borane on the π bond, giving a cyclic four-centered transition state. The –BH2 group is bonded to the less substituted carbon and –H to the more substituted carbon. The concerted nature requires the simultaneous addition of –H and –BH2 across the same face of the alkene giving syn stereochemistry.
Preparation of Alcohols via Substitution Reactions
Alcohols can be synthesized from alkyl halides via nucleophilic substitution reactions. The highly polar carbon-halogen bond in the substrate makes halide a good leaving group. The hydroxide ion or water can act as a nucleophile to take the place of halide and form an alcohol. The substitution reactions occur via two different reaction pathways, SN1 or SN2, depending on the nature of carbon attached to the halide.
Primary alcohols are synthesized from primary alkyl halides, and the...
Hydroboration-Oxidation of Alkenes

