Chirality optical rotation

Circular dicliroism has been a useful servant to tire biophysical chemist since it allows tire non-invasive detennination of secondary stmcture (a-helices and P-sheets) in dissolved biopolymers. Due to tire dissymmetry of tliese stmctures (containing chiral centres) tliey are biaxial and show circular birefringence. Circular dicliroism is tlie Kramers-Kronig transfonnation of tlie resulting optical rotatory dispersion. The spectral window useful for distinguishing between a-helices and so on lies in tlie region 200-250 nm and hence is masked by certain salts. The metliod as usually applied is only semi-quantitative, since tlie measured optical rotations also depend on tlie exact amino acid sequence. 

An example of a chiral compound is lactic acid. Two different forms of lactic acid that are mirror images of each other can be defined (Figure 2-69). These two different molecules are called enantiomers. They can be separated, isolated, and characterized experimentally. They are different chemical entities, and some of their properties arc different (c.g., their optical rotation),... 

Only three not four stereoisomeric 2 3 butanediols are possible These three are shown m Eigure 7 10 The (2R 3R) and (2S 3S) forms are enantiomers of each other and have equal and opposite optical rotations A third combination of chirality centers (2R 3S) however gives an achiral structure that is superimposable on its (2S 3R) minor image Because it is achiral this third stereoisomer is optically inactive We call achiral mole cules that have chnahty centers meso forms The meso form m Eigure 7 10 is known as meso 2 3 butanediol... 

Section 7 4 Optical activity, or the degree to which a substance rotates the plane of polarized light is a physical property used to characterize chiral sub stances Enantiomers have equal and opposite optical rotations To be optically active a substance must be chiral and one enantiomer must be present m excess of the other A racemic mixture is optically inactive and contains equal quantities of enantiomers... 

Optically Inactive Chiral Compounds. Although chirality is a necessary prerequisite for optical activity, chiral compounds are not necessarily optically active. With an equal mixture of two enantiomers, no net optical rotation is observed. Such a mixture of enantiomers is said to be racemic and is designated as ( ) and not as dl. Racemic mixtures usually have melting points higher than the melting point of either pure enantiomer. 

The a-carbon of glutamic acid is chiral. A convenient and effective means to determine the chemical purity of MSG is measurement of its specific rotation. The specific optical rotation of a solution of 10 g MSG in 100 mL of 2 A/HQ is +25.16. Besides L-glutamic acid [56-86-0] D-glutamic acid [6893-26-1] and the racemic mixture, DL-glutamic acid [617-65-2] are known. Unique taste modifying characteristics are possessed only by the L-form. 

The structure of a natural product is shown without any specification of stereochem-istiy. It is a pure substance which gives no indication of being a mixture of stereoisomers and has zero optical rotation. It is not a racemic mixture because it does not yield separate peaks on a chiral HPLC column. When the material is completely hydrolyzed, it gives a racemic sample of the product shown. Deduce the complete stereochemical structure of the natural product fiom this information. 

What causes optical rotation The plane of polarization of a light wave undergoes a minute rotation when it encounters a chiral molecule. Enantiomeric forms of a chiral molecule cause a rotation of the plane of polarization in exactly equal fflnounts but in... 

Absolute configurations of the isoxazolidines obtained in the nitrone cydoaddition reactions described in Schemes 7.21 and 7.22 were determined to be 3S,41 ,5S structure by comparison of the optical rotations as well as retention times in a chiral HPLC analysis with those of the authentic samples. Selection of the si face at C/ position of 3-crotonoyl-2-oxazolidinone in nitrone cydoadditions was the same as that observed in the Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with 3-croto-noyl-2-oxazolidinone in the presence of the J ,J -DBF0X/Ph-Ni(C104)2-3H20 complex (Scheme 7.7), and this indicates that the s-cis conformation of the dipolaro-phile has participated in the reaction. 

The desilylacetylated qrcloadducts, produced from the reactions of trimethylsilyl-diazomethane with 3-crotonoyl-2-oxazolidinone or 3-crotonoyl-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxa-zolidinone, were transformed to methyl traws-l-acetyl-4-methyl-l-pyrazoline-5-car-boxylate through the reactions with dimethoxymagnesium at -20 °C. When the optical rotations and chiral HPLC data were compared between these two esters, it was found that these two products had opposite absolute stereochemistry (Scheme 7.39). The absolute configuration was identified on the basis of the X-ray-determined structure of the major diastereomer of cycloadduct derived from the reaction of trimethylsilyldiazomethane to (S)-3-crotonoyl-4-methyl-2-oxazolidi-none. 

The answer is that Pasteur started with a 50 50 mixture of the two chiral tartaric acid enantiomers. Such a mixture is called a racemic (ray-see-mi c) mixture, or racemate, and is denoted either by the symbol ( ) or the prefix cl,I to indicate an equal mixture of dextrorotatory and levorotatory forms. Racemic mixtures show no optical rotation because the (+) rotation from one enantiomer exactly cancels the (-) rotation from the other. Through luck, Pasteur was able to separate, or resolve, racemic tartaric acid into its (-f) and (-) enantiomers. Unfortunately, the fractional crystallization technique he used doesn t work for most racemic mixtures, so other methods are needed. 

Specific rotation, [a]D (Section 9.3) The optical rotation of a chiral compound under standard conditions. 

Optical rotations sign employed to assign configuration ec by chiral H NMR. b No second cycle was undertaken. c Second cycle was undertaken using (17 )-15. 

It is well known that spontaneous resolution of a racemate may occur upon crystallization if a chiral molecule crystallizes as a conglomerate. With regard to sulphoxides, this phenomenon was observed for the first time in the case of methyl p-tolyl sulphoxide269. The optical rotation of a partially resolved sulphoxide (via /J-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes) was found to increase from [a]589 = + 11.5° (e.e. 8.1%) to [a]589 = +100.8 (e.e. 71.5%) after four fractional crystallizations from light petroleum ether. Later on, few optically active ketosulphoxides of low optical purity were converted into the pure enantiomers by fractional crystallization from ethyl ether-hexane270. This resolution by crystallization was also successful for racemic benzyl p-tolyl sulphoxide and t-butyl phenyl sulphoxide271. 

The determination of the angle of rotation is called polarimetry. In some cases, it can help a chemist follow a reaction. For example, if a reaction destroys the chirality of a complex, then the angle of optical rotation decreases with time as the concentration of the complex falls. 

Enantiomers differ in one physical property chiral molecules display optical activity, the ability to rotate the plane of polarization of light (Section 16.7 and Box 16.2). If a chiral molecule rotates the plane of polarization clockwise, then its mirror-image partner rotates it through the same angle in the opposite direction. 

Analytical Methods. A Schimadzu Liquid Chromatograph was used to monitor the reaction conversion and to assign chemical and chiral purity to the final product. Structures were verified by HNMR spectra obtained on a Bruker (Model UltraShield 400 spectrometer). Optical rotations were measured on a Perkin Elmer Model 341 Polarimeter. 

Section 3 shows that many optically active organotin compounds with an asymmetric tin atom as only chiral center can be made. This fact is already strong evidence for the optical stability of those compounds. Furthermore, their optical rotation does... 

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