Helix optical activity

Keywords Amplification Helix Optically active Polymer Polysilane... 

The parameters which are necessary to calculate molar rotations [0]d of cyclopropanes I (in chloroform, methanol, or ethanol) are given in Table 1. If one differentiates substituents bonded via a carbon atom to the cyclopropane skeleton and substituents bonded via a heteroatom, the A-parameters (which describe helix optical activity) exhibit two correlations with the parameters A (R) which are used to calculate the molar rotations of allenes XVII (Figure 2). This means that the helix contribution 5 (equation 3) to the... 

Equation 7 shows that in cyclopropanes helix optical activity is not only induced by the groups polarizabilities, but to a large extent also by the groups polarities (4 a, is a rough measure for the group dipole moments). 

Only the methoxy- and chloro-compounds (38, 3 ) exhibit large deviations between calculated and observed rotations. In general, the 1,1-diphenylcyclopropanes XVIII have rather large optical rotations ( [ ]d > 90°). Inspection of Table 3 reveals that the molar rotations of XVIII are almost entirely due to helix optical activity ( 0 q > 0 d ). This is in contrast to an earlier assumption which has attributed optical rotations of XVIII to atomic asymmetry. Further comparisons between calculated and observed optical rotations of complex cyclopropanes I are presented in Table 4. 

In the TTOR approach for the description of optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) in the transparent region (O, A 330 nm) for each term in equation 1 endogenous and exogenous variables are separated. For the helix optical activity, for instance, one has equation 15 . ... 

If one analyzes the rotation of D-a-(methylenecyclopropyl)glycine (82) the optical activity must come from (at least) four sources. One rotation contribution is associated with the atomic asymmetry of the open-chain moiety (methylenecyclopropane being viewed as a ligand). On the other hand, optical activity will also be induced by the asymmetric carbon atom of the ring and the asymmetry in the electron density distribution of the exocyclic double bond system (with diastereotopic faces). Finally also helix optical activity may be operative. The example of 82 demonstrates the complexity of the optical rotation of an apparently simple cyclopropane derivative. Further discussions of optical rotations of similar compounds, therefore, will cling to only the qualitative level. 

Optical rotation and circular dichroism have been used for die characterization of optically active polymers. They have been used to determine whether polymers are optically active and whether a secondary structure such as a helix exists. 

Okamoto and his colleagues60) described the interesting polymerization of tri-phenylmethyl methacrylate. The bulkiness of this group affects the reactivity and the mode of placement of this monomer. The anionic polymerization yields a highly isotactic polymer, whether the reaction proceeds in toluene or in THF. In fact, even radical polymerization of this monomer yields polymers of relatively high isotacticity. Anionic polymerization of triphenylmethyl methacrylate initiated by optically active initiators e.g. PhN(CH2Ph)Li, or the sparteine-BuLi complex, produces an optically active polymer 60). Its optical activity is attributed to the chirality of the helix structure maintained in solution. 

An electric dipole operator, of importance in electronic (visible and uv) and in vibrational spectroscopy (infrared) has the same symmetry properties as Ta. Magnetic dipoles, of importance in rotational (microwave), nmr (radio frequency) and epr (microwave) spectroscopies, have an operator with symmetry properties of Ra. Raman (visible) spectra relate to polarizability and the operator has the same symmetry properties as terms such as x2, xy, etc. In the study of optically active species, that cause helical movement of charge density, the important symmetry property of a helix to note, is that it corresponds to simultaneous translation and rotation. Optically active molecules must therefore have a symmetry such that Ta and Ra (a = x, y, z) transform as the same i.r. It only occurs for molecules with an alternating or improper rotation axis, Sn. 

Helical polysilanes whose optical activity is induced by chiral side chains are particularly suitable chiroptical polymers for elucidating the inherent nature of the polymer helix since they embody a fluorophoric and chromophoric main chain, exhibiting intense UV, CD, and FL bands due to the Sia-Sia ... 

It is possible that the helicity is a result of the chiral substitution itself and that the polymers with achiral substituents have, in fact, all-anti conformations. While this possibility cannot be directly ruled out, comparison of the spectroscopic data for the polymers with chiral substituents and achiral substituents, for example, 47 and 48, respectively, indicates similar main-chain dihedral angles, since the UV absorption maxima are so similar. Both polymers should therefore be latent helical, that is, contain segments of opposite screw sense separated by strong kinks (helix reversal points), with the difference being that in the case of 47 the overall numbers of P and M turns are equal, whereas for 48, one of the screw senses predominates, resulting in net helicity and optical activity. 

A helical arrangement within columns was also found for other metal 3-diketonate complexes provided with chiral side chains (32) by Serrano and co-workers.35,36 These compounds form rectangular columnar mesophases with helical order within the columns. A spin-coated sample of 32 showed a positive exciton-splitted signal in the CD spectra, which was interpreted as a left-handed (M) helix. Annealing of the film resulted in much higher optical activities and a shift of the absorption maxima. The observed optical changes clearly point to a chiral organization of the columns in the mesophase. 

Photochemically Triggered Induced Circular Dichroism in Liposomes When an optically inactive chromophore is subject to the effect of optically active environment, optical activity may be induced at the absorption wavelength of the optically inactive chromophore. This phenomenon of induced circular dichroism(ICD) is often observed in polypeptides bearing various achiral chromophores on the side chain( ). The strong chiral environment caused by the peptide helix structure is responsible for this. Distance from, and orientation to, the chiral field decide the degree of ICD appearing on the achiral chromophore. 

---