Racemic 2-(2-trifluoromethyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-1-yl)benzoic acid (TBBA) was synthesized in three steps from 1-fluoro-2-nitrobenzene. Target (P)-and (M)-TBBA atropisomers were stable with a racemization barrier above 30 kcal/mol. As a chiral derivatizing agent, TBBA showed much higher differences in chemical shifts (Δδ PM ) than the conventional Mosher's acid.

Axially chiral trifluoromethylbenzimidazolylbenzoic acid (TBBA) was used as a chiral derivatization agent for the assignment of the absolute configuration of β-chiral primary alcohols. The structures varied from simple aliphatic alcohols to complex cyclic systems and highly substituted sugar derivatives. The NMR-based method was successfully implemented to evaluate 17 compounds and displayed ΔδPM values higher than 0.1 ppm in most cases, which makes TBBA superior to MTPA and MPA and comparable to 9-AMA.

Axially chiral 2-(2-(trifluoromethyl)-1 H -benzo[ d ]imidazole-1-yl)benzoic acid (TBBA) was used as a chiral derivatizing agent to evaluate the limits of absolute configuration assignment for β-chiral aminoalcohols. Seven Boc-aminoalcohols and eight variously N -substituted ( S )-phenylglycinols were prepared, and their TBBA esters were analyzed by NMR spectroscopy. Diverse substitution at the β-position was employed to demonstrate the effect of structure on the general conformational model and reliability of the absolute configuration assignment. It was concluded that hydrogen bond formation and steric hindrance were the main factors affecting the correct assignment for Boc-aminoalcohols.