Pirkle's alcohol is an off-white, crystalline solid that is stable at room temperature when protected from light and oxygen. This

chiral Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from i ...

molecule is typically used, in nonracemic form, as a

chiral shift reagent A chiral shift reagent is a reagent used in analytical chemistry for determining the optical purity of a sample. Some analytical techniques such as HPLC and NMR, in their most commons forms, cannot distinguish enantiomers within a sample, but ca ...

nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), is a spectroscopic technique to observe local magnetic fields around atomic nuclei. The sample is placed in a magnetic fie ...

, in order to simultaneously determine

absolute configuration Absolute configuration refers to the spatial arrangement of atoms within a chiral molecular entity (or group) and its resultant stereochemical description. Absolute configuration is typically relevant in organic molecules, where carbon is bonde ...

and enantiomeric purity of other chiral molecules. The molecule is named after William H. Pirkle, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois whose group reported its synthesis and its application as a chiral shift reagent.

Synthesis

Pirkle's alcohol is synthesized by trifluoroacetylation of

anthracene Anthracene is a solid polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) of formula C14H10, consisting of three fused benzene rings. It is a component of coal tar. Anthracene is used in the production of the red dye alizarin and other dyes. Anthracene is col ...

, to yield trifluoromethyl 9-anthryl ketone. Trifluoromethyl 9-anthryl ketone may be reduced with a chiral hydride reagent prepared from lithium aluminium hydride and (4S,5S)-(–)-2-ethyl-4-hydroxymethyl-5-phenyl-2-oxazoline to generate Pirkle's alcohol with R absolute configuration. Alternatively, trifluoromethyl 9-anthryl ketone may be reduced with

sodium borohydride Sodium borohydride, also known as sodium tetrahydridoborate and sodium tetrahydroborate, is an inorganic compound with the formula Na BH4. This white solid, usually encountered as an aqueous basic solution, is a reducing agent that finds applica ...

to generate racemic Pirkle's alcohol. The enantiomers are then derivatized to diastereomeric carbamates using enantioenriched 1-(1-Naphthyl)ethyl

isocyanate In organic chemistry, isocyanate is the functional group with the formula . Organic compounds that contain an isocyanate group are referred to as isocyanates. An organic compound with two isocyanate groups is known as a diisocyanate. Diisocyan ...

(also developed by Pirkle). These diastereomers may be separated by

column chromatography Column chromatography in chemistry is a chromatography method used to isolate a single chemical compound from a mixture. Chromatography is able to separate substances based on differential adsorption of compounds to the adsorbent; compounds move th ...

and hydrolyzed to obtain each enantiomer of Pirkle's alcohol in enantiopure form.

Application

The determination of enantiomeric purity and absolute configuration is frequently necessary in organic synthesis. Pirkle's alcohol is applied to obtain this information by

NMR spectroscopy Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), is a spectroscopic technique to observe local magnetic fields around atomic nuclei. The sample is placed in a magnetic fie ...

. When Pirkle's alcohol is in solution with an ensemble of chiral molecules, short-lived diastereomeric solvates may be formed from Pirkle's alcohol and the enantiomers of the analyte.

Enantiomorphic In chemistry, a molecule or ion is called chiral () if it cannot be superposed on its mirror image by any combination of rotations, translations, and some conformational changes. This geometric property is called chirality (). The terms are d ...

protons of the analyte enantiomers, which without Pirkle's alcohol are indistinguishable by NMR, become diastereomorphic when the analyte interacts with Pirkle's alcohol, and appear as different signals in an NMR spectrum. The relative magnitude of the signals quantitatively reveals the enantiomeric purity of the analyte. Also, a model of the solvated complex may be used to deduce absolute configuration of an enantioenriched analyte.

References

{{Reflist Stereochemistry Secondary alcohols Trifluoromethyl compounds Anthracenes

Synthesis

Application

See also

References