Direct Determination of the Absolute Configurations of Chiral Cyanohydrins Using Bis(zinc porphyrin) as a CD-Sensitive Bidentate Host

The absolute configurations of cyanohydrins are readily determined an exciton-coupled circular dichroism (ECCD) protocol using bidentate bis(zinc porphyrin) host molecule BP1 as a CD-sensitive chirality probe. UV-vis and studies revealed a monodentate binding mode of cyanohydrin with BP1. Based on these studies, a simple working model using a Newman projection of cyanohydrins was established, allowing BPI. to determine the stereochemistry of various cyanohydrins in a non-empirical and unambiguous manner.