Chirality organic crystals

Asymmetric Autocatalysis Triggered by Chiral Organic Crystals Composed of Achiral Organic Compounds... 

Some achiral organic compounds form chiral crystals, with each crystal exhibiting one of two possible enantiomorphs [9-13]. These chiral crystals composed of an achiral organic compound may serve as an efficient chiral seed in a prebiotic world, therefore, a study of asymmetric autocatalysis using these chiral organic crystals is an interesting subject. 

Chiral organic crystals composed of achiral compounds such as hippuric acid act as the initial source of chirality of asymmetric autocatalysis to produce the highly enantiomerically pure product. In this reaction, chiral organic crystals are utilized as a chiral inducer, not as a reactant. Therefore, these results are the realization of the process in which the crystal chirality of achiral organic compounds induces asymmetry in another organic compound whose chirality was amplified to produce a large amount of enantiomerically pure organic compound, pyrimidyl alkanol in conjunction with asymmetric autocatalysis. 

Even starting from achiral molecules it is in some systems possible to achieve crystallization in a chiral structure. Perhaps one of the most striking achievements in organic solid-state chemistry has been the trapping of the chirality of such a crystal as the chirality of the stable product of chemical reactions in the crystal. Such asymmetric synthesis has been reviewed (255), and a recent book (256) also provides a thorough discussion of chirality in crystals. The related and fascinating topic of the chemical consequences of the presence of a polar axis in some organic crystals has also been reviewed (257). 

As described, a chiral organic compound with high ee is formed using chiral inorganic crystals in conjunction with asymmetric autocatalysis. 

Systematic studies of topochemical reactions of organic solids have led to the possibility of asymmetric synthesis via reactions in chiral crystals. (A chiral crystal is one whose symmetry elements do not interrelate enantiomers.) (Green et al, 1979 Addadi et al, 1980). This essentially involves two steps (i) synthesis of achiral molecules that crystallize in chiral structures with suitable packing and orientation of reactive groups and (ii) performing a topochemical reaction such that chirality of crystals is transferred to products. The first step is essentially a part of the more general problem of crystal engineering. An example of such a system where almost quantitative asymmetric induction is achieved is the family of unsymmetrically substituted dienes ... 

The presence of a polar axis confers anisotropic activity to organic crystals (Curtin Paul, 1981 Desiraju, 1984b). Common polar (noncentrosymmetric) space groups adopted by organic crystals areP2i2i2i and P2i- While chiral crystals must have polar directions, polar crystals need not be chiral. Anisotropic reactivity is seen for instance in the reaction of ammonia with p-bromobenzoic anhydride, which crystallizes with a polar axis the polar axis directs the reaction, p-bromobenzoic anhydride is chiral as well as polar. Chirality of the crystalline anhydride has been exploited to resolve a racemic gaseous amine the chiral crystal preferentially reacts with one of the enantiomers of the amine. Thus when p-bromobenzoic anhydride crystals are exposed to vapours of racemic phenylethylamine, the resulting amide contains one of the enantiomers in excess. 

TABLE 3. Asymmetric autocatalysis in reaction of 87 initiated by chiral inorganic crystals, inorganic-organic hybrid materials and chiral cocrystals of achiral compounds... 

Certain chiral organic compounds create crystalline environments and act as enantio-controlling media (7) even though they do not function as true catalysts. Natta s asymmetric reaction of prochiral trans-1,3-pentadiene, which was included in the crystal lattice of chiral perhydro-triphenylene as a host compound, to form an optically active, isotactic polymer on 7-ray irradiation, is a classic example of such a chiral molecular lattice (Scheme 1) (2). Weak van der Waals forces cause a geometric arrangement of the diene monomer that favors one of the possible enantiomeric sequences. 

The use of salt formation to expand the number of crystals which contain a single molecular type was first applied by Meredith (26), and more recently by Marder et. al. (22). In the latter work, ionic interactions are used to offset dipolar interactions among achiral molecules, which enhances the probability that the resulting crystal will be noncentrosymmetric. In our case, of course, noncentrosymmetry is ensured by the chirality of the molecules involved. It is important to note that, within the picture we have presented, neither the assurance of noncentrosymmetry, nor the enhanced hyperpolarizability of the chiral molecule guarantees that the nonlinearity of any particular chiral organic salt crystal will be large. These properties simply ensure that each crystal so formed has an equal opportunity to express the molecular hyperpolarizability in an optimized way. 

From this information, we have estimated(25) that between 0.5 and 1% of the chiral organic salts formed from amino acids and alpha-hydroxy acids have lower threshold powers than KDP for doubling or tripling 1.05 pm light. The probability P of finding such a crystal in a random sample of N crystals from the population of chiral organic salts is given by... 

The work described in this paper represents the contributions of several people. Laura Davis is responsible for the linear optical property measurements and the development of the microreffactometer. Most of the nonlinear optical measurements on small single crystals have been made by Mark Webb, who is also responsible for several improvements in the apparatus and technique. Francis Wang synthesized the chiral organic salts and did the powder SHG measurements. David Eimerl was the source of much encouragement, advice, and support during the course of this work. 

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