Chiral compounds 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)... 

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). 

When the asymmetric carbon atoms in a chiral compound are part of a ring, the isomerism is more complex than in acyclic compounds. A cyclic compound which has two different asymmetric carbons with different sets of substituent groups attached has a total of 2 = 4 optical isomers an enantiometric pair of cis isomers and an enantiometric pair of trans isomers. However, when the two asymmetric centers have the same set of substituent groups attached, the cis isomer is a meso compound and only the trans isomer is chiral. (See Fig. 1.15.)... 

Chiral separations are concerned with separating molecules that can exist as nonsupetimposable mirror images. Examples of these types of molecules, called enantiomers or optical isomers are illustrated in Figure 1. Although chirahty is often associated with compounds containing a tetrahedral carbon with four different substituents, other atoms, such as phosphoms or sulfur, may also be chiral. In addition, molecules containing a center of asymmetry, such as hexahehcene, tetrasubstituted adamantanes, and substituted aHenes or molecules with hindered rotation, such as some 2,2 disubstituted binaphthyls, may also be chiral. Compounds exhibiting a center of asymmetry are called atropisomers. An extensive review of stereochemistry may be found under Pharmaceuticals, Chiral. 

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. 

The presence of asymmetric C atoms in a molecule may, of course, be indicated by diastereotopic shifts and absolute configurations may, as already shown, be determined empirically by comparison of diastereotopic shifts However, enantiomers are not differentiated in the NMR spectrum. The spectrum gives no indication as to whether a chiral compound exists in a racemic form or as a pure enantiomer. 

Identify the chiral carbon atoms in each of the following compounds ... 

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... 

The Cahn-Ingold-Prelog system is unambiguous and easily applicable in most cases. Whether to call an enantiomer (R) or (S) does not depend on correlations, but the configuration must be known before the system can be applied, and this does depend on correlations. The Cahn-Ingold-Prelog system has also been extended to chiral compounds that do not contain chiral atoms.A series of new rules have been proposed to address the few cases where the rules can be ambiguous, as in cyclophanes and other systems. ... 

Although four is the maximum possible number of isomers when the compound has two chiral centers (chiral compounds without a chiral carbon, or with one chiral carbon and another type of chiral center, also follow the rules described here), some compounds have fewer. When the three groups on one chiral atom are the same as those on the other, one of the isomers (called a meso form) has a plane of symmetry, and hence is optically inactive, even though it has two chiral carbons. Tartaric acid is a typical case. There are only three isomers of tartaric acid a pair of enantiomers and an inactive meso form. For compounds that have two chiral atoms, meso forms are found only where the four groups on one of the chiral atoms are the same as those on the other chiral atom. 

For a discussion of these rules, as well as for a review of methods for establishing configurations of chiral compounds not containing chiral atoms, see Krow, G. Top. Stereochem., 1970, 5, 31. 

The great majority of known chiral compounds are naturally occurring organic substances, their molecules having one or more asymmetrically substituted carbon atoms (stereogenic atoms). Chirality is present when a tetrahedrally coordinated atom has... 

If organotin molecules can be made which contain, besides the chiral tin atom, another asymmetric atom which is optically stable, then they can exist as two diastereomeric racemic mixtures if the other atom is not resolved, or as two diastereomers if the other atom is. If these two diastereomeric mixtures (or diastereomers) can be separated (or at least if two mixtures of different compositions, i.e. diastereomeric ratios, can be obtained), then the rate at which these two mixtures (or compounds) are transformed into the equilibrium mixture is a measure for the rate of inversion at the tin atom. 

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