The specific rotations of 2-substituted butanes (X = F, Cl, CN, and HCC) were calculated at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level as a function of the C-C-C-C torsion angle. The results for the four compounds are remarkably similar, despite large differences in the electronic transition energies. The temperature dependence of the specific rotations for 2-methylbutyronitrile and for 2-chlorobutane was studied to give experimental information about the effect of the torsion angle on the specific rotation. The results were in good accord with B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations. The specific rotations derived from the study of 2-chlorobutane are similar to those previously obtained for 3-chloro-1-butene, indicating that the double bond does not have a large effect on the optical rotations, but it did lead to a large difference between calculated and observed specific rotations.

No abstract

The ability of a large and chemically diverse set of 30 chiral ligands to effect asymmetric cyclization of 2-(N,N-diallylamino)phenyllithium (1), derived from N,N-diallyl-2-bromoaniline (2) by low-temperature lithium-bromine exchange, has been investigated in an attempt to elucidate the structural motifs required to provide high enantiofacial selectivity in the ring closure. Although none of the ligands examined in this study afforded 1-allyl-3-methylindoline in significantly higher ee than previously observed for the cyclization of 1 in the presence of the benchmark ligand (-)-sparteine, several ligands, structurally unrelated to sparteine and available in either enantiomeric form, were found to match the utility of (-)-sparteine in this chemistry.

No abstract