Pentanol optically active

Reaction ot (S)-3-methyl-2-pentanone with methvlmagnesium brooiide followed by acidification yields 2,3-dimethyl-2-pentanol. What is the stereochemistry of the product Is the product optically active ... 

The optically active form of 1-phenyl-1-pentanol has been prepared by a variety of methods.4,5 The present procedure is a modification and extended description of our previously published2 chiral solvent method. DDB and other auxiliary agents from tartaric acid lead to a wide range of optically active products from achiral components with prochiral centers (enantioselective syntheses). A list of examples of DDB applications is found in the accompanying procedure describing its preparation from tartaric acid. 

Later, Brown and co-workers developed the method described above for the preparation of enantiomerically pure Ipc2BH (>99% ee) and applied the reagent in the asymmetric hydroboration of prochiral alkenes. Oxidation of the trialkylboranes provided optically active alcohols. In the case of cis-alkenes, secondary alcohols were obtained in excellent enantiomeric purity (Figure 1). The reaction is general for most types of cw-alkene, e.g. C(S-2-butene forms (R)-2-butanol in 98.4% ee, and c(s-3-hexene is converted to (R)-3-hexanol in 93% ee. However, the reagent is somewhat limited in reactions with unsymmetrical alkenes e.g. c/s-4-methyl-2-pentene yields 4-methyl-2-pentanol with 96% regioselectivity but only 76% ee (Figure 1). ... 

What we are concerned with at this time is an explanation on chemical grounds of the important fact that three amyl alcohols or pentanolSf are known all of which possess the same structural formula viz., 2-methyl butanol-i and that one of these compounds is dextrorotatory another is levo-rotatory and the third one is inactive. These three are different individual compounds with practically the same physical properties other than optical. The inactive variety of 2-methyl butanol-1 differs, however, from the other seven structurally isomeric pentanols which are likewise inactiye not only in its structure but also in the fact that by means of certain reactions there may be obtained from it both the dextro-rotatory and the levo-rotatory compounds. In it, and in other inactive compounds of the same kind, there are present equivalent amounts of the two oppositely active compounds,... 

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