Chiral carbon atoms

In certain crystals, e.g. in quartz, there is chirality in the crystal structure. Molecular chirality is possible in compounds which have no chiral carbon atoms and yet possess non-superimposable mirror image structures. Restricted rotation about the C=C = C bonds in an allene abC = C = Cba causes chirality and the existence of two optically active forms (i)... 

Chiral carbon atoms are common, but they are not the only possible centers of chirality. Other possible chiral tetravalent atoms are Si, Ge, Sn, N, S, and P, while potential trivalent chiral atoms, in which non-bonding electrons occupy the position of the fourth ligand, are N, P, As, Sb, S, Se, and Te. Furthermore, a center of chirality does not even have to be an atom, as shown in the structure represented in Figure 2-70b, where the center of chirality is at the center of the achiral skeleton of adamantane. 

Other methods have been proposed for detecting chiral carbon atoms which do not rely on the CIP system, and which have been more convenient for some specific applications [108]. 

Figure 8-10. C raphical representation of/dcciu) versus u for (-t-)-3 and (-)-3 sampled at 75 evenly distributed points between -0.03 A and + 0.03 e A b Hydrogen atoins not bonded to chiral carbon atoms were not considered.

The conformation-dependent chirality code constitutes a more general description of molecular chirality, which is formally comparable with the CICC [43], The main difference is that chiral carbon atoms arc now not explicitly considered, and combinations of any four atoms are now used, independently of the existence or nonexistence of chiial centers, and of their belonging or not belonging to ligands of chiral centers. 

The large sulfur atom is a preferred reaction site in synthetic intermediates to introduce chirality into a carbon compound. Thermal equilibrations of chiral sulfoxides are slow, and parbanions with lithium or sodium as counterions on a chiral carbon atom adjacent to a sulfoxide group maintain their chirality. The benzylic proton of chiral sulfoxides is removed stereoselectively by strong bases. The largest groups prefer the anti conformation, e.g. phenyl and oxygen in the first example, phenyl and rert-butyl in the second. Deprotonation occurs at the methylene group on the least hindered site adjacent to the unshared electron pair of the sulfur atom (R.R. Fraser, 1972 F. Montanari, 1975). 

Open-chain 1,5-polyenes (e.g. squalene) and some oxygenated derivatives are the biochemical precursors of cyclic terpenoids (e.g. steroids, carotenoids). The enzymic cyclization of squalene 2,3-oxide, which has one chiral carbon atom, to produce lanosterol introduces seven chiral centres in one totally stereoselective reaction. As a result, organic chemists have tried to ascertain, whether squalene or related olefinic systems could be induced to undergo similar stereoselective cyclizations in the absence of enzymes (W.S. Johnson, 1968, 1976). 

Recent syntheses of steroids apply efficient strategies in which open-chain or monocyclic educts with appropiate side-chains are stereoselectively cyclized in one step to a tri- or tetracyclic steroid precursor. These procedures mimic the biochemical synthesis scheme where acyclic, achiral squalene is first oxidized to a 2,3-epoxide containing one chiral carbon atom and then enzymatically cyclized to lanostetol with no less than seven asymmetric centres (W.S. Johnson, 1%8, 1976 E.E. van Tamden, 1968). 

Non-enzymatic cyclizations of educts containing chiral centres can lead to products with additional "asymmetric centres. The underlying effect is called "asymmetric induction . Its systematic exploration in steroid syntheses started when G. Saucy discovered in 1971 that a chiral carbon atom in a cyclic educt induces a stereoselective Torgov condensation several carbon atoms away (M. Rosenberger, 1971, 1972). 

The steric bulk of the three iodine atoms in the 2,4,6-triiodoben2ene system and the amide nature of the 1,3,5-substituents yield rotational isomers of the 5-A/-acyl-substituted 2,4,6-triiodoisophthalamides. Rotational motion in the bonds connecting the side chains and the aromatic ring is restricted. These compounds also exhibit stereoisomerism when chiral carbon atoms are present on side chains. (R,5)-3-Amino-l,2-propanediol is incorporated in the synthesis of iohexol (11) and ioversol (12) and an (3)-2-hydroxypropanoyl group is used in the synthesis of iopamidol (10). Consequendy, the resulting products contain a mixture of stereoisomers, ie, meso-isomers, or an optical isomer. 

Because a hexose contains four chiral carbon atoms, there are 2 = 16 different possible arrangements of the hydroxyl groups in space, ie, there are 16 different stereoisomers. The stmctures of half of these, the eight D isomers, are shown in Figure 1. Only three of these 16 stereoisomers are commonly found in nature D-glucose [50-99-7] D-galactose [59-23-4] and D-mannose [3458-28-4]. 

The reaction of diethyl tartrate with sulfur tetrafluonde at 25 °C results in replacement of one hydroxyl group, whereas at 100 °C, both hydroxyl groups are replaced by fluonne to form a,a -difluorosuccinate [762] The stereochemical outcome of the fluonnation of tartrate esters is retention of configuration at one of the chiral carbon atoms and inversion of configuration at the second chiral center [163,164, 165] Thus, treatment ofdimethyl(+)-L-tartrate with sulfur tetrafluonde gives dimethyl meso-a,a difluorosuccinate as the final product [163, 164], whereas dimethyl meso tartrate is converted into a racemic mixture of D- and L-a,a -difluorosuccmates [765] (equation 80)... 

FIGURE 4.12 Enantiomeric molecules based on a chiral carbon atom. Enantiomers are nonsuperimposable mirror images of each other. 

As you can see from their structures, a- and /3-glucose have several chiral carbon atoms. Both isomers are optically active they are not enantiomers (mirror images of one another) because they differ in configuration only at carbon atom 1. As it happens, both a- and /3-glucose rotate the plane of polarized light to the right (clockwise). 

Identify the chiral carbon atoms in a carbohydrate or n-amino acid. 

How many chiral carbon atoms are there in a-glucose in fructose ... 

Clear evidence in favor of 6.75 being an intermediate came, however, from stereochemistry. If the indazole cyclization takes place at a chiral carbon atom in the exposition of the alkyl group in 6.78, the stereochemistry of the 3-i/-indazole 6.79 can indicate whether the 5-diazo-6-methylene-l,3-cyclohexadiene 6.75 is an intermediate or whether, on the other hand, deprotonation and cyclization are synchronous. In the first case a racemic indazole 6.79 is expected. In the case of a synchronous reaction, however, a stereospecific product, probably with retention of the chirality at Ca, should be observed. 

Indicate which of the following molecules are optical isomers and identify the chiral carbon atoms in those that are (a) CH,CHBrCH2CH3 (b) CH3CH2CHCl2 (c) l-bromo-2-chloropropane (d) 1,2-dichloropentane. 

Identify (a) the functional groups and (b) the chiral carbon atoms in the mannose molecule shown here. 

The structures of the following molecules can be 5 found on the Web site for this text. Draw the structure of each and identify its chiral carbon atoms ... 

The anomeric symbol a or p, followed by a hyphen, is placed immediately before the configurational symbol D or L of the trivial name or of the configurational prefix denoting the group of chiral carbon atoms that includes the anomeric reference atom. 

A molecule that contains just one chiral carbon atom (defined as a carbon atom connected to four different groups also called an asymmetric or stereogenic carbon atom) is always chiral, and hence optically active. As seen in Figure 4.1, such a molecule cannot have a plane of symmetry, whatever the identity of W, X, Y, and Z, as long as they are all different. However, the presence of a chiral carbon is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for optical activity, since optical activity may be present in molecules with no chiral atom and since some molecules with two or more chiral carbon atoms are superimposable on their mirror images, and hence inactive. Examples of such compounds will be discussed subsequently. 

Compounds With a Chiral Carbon Atom. If there is only one such atom, the molecule must be optically active. This is so no matter how slight the differences are among the four groups. For example, optical activity is present in... 

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