1,1'-Binaphthyl is an organic compound with the formula (CH). It is one of the dimers of naphthalene (or literally: dimers of naphthyl). A colorless solid, it has attracted some attention because the

atropisomer Atropisomers are stereoisomers arising because of hindered rotation about a single bond, where energy differences due to steric strain or other contributors create a barrier to rotation that is high enough to allow for isolation of individual co ...

s can be isolated due to hindered rotation between the two naphthyl subunits. The

halflife Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...

of the

racemization In chemistry, racemization is a conversion, by heat or by chemical reaction, of an optically active compound into a racemic (optically inactive) form. This creates a 1:1 molar ratio of enantiomers and is referred too as a racemic mixture (i.e. con ...

is 14.5 min. at 50 °C. Substituted derivatives of this parent species, e.g. binaphthol, exhibit much higher barriers to racemization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binaphthyl, 1, 1'- 1-Naphthyl compounds Aromatic hydrocarbons