The asymmetric amplification of p-anisoin was
studied by attrition-enhanced deracemization in the presence of chiral
standard amino acids. In this reaction, p-anisoin
crystallized as a conglomerate, and deracemization under basic conditions
was efficiently performed in 99% ee by Viedma ripening. Although the
handedness of the enantioselective crystallization cannot be controlled
by spontaneous crystallization, it could be governed by the coexistence
of a catalytic amount of 16 chiral amino acids except cysteine, serine,
and threonine. l-Amino acids tilted the handedness of enantiomer
crystals to (R)-anisoin, while d-amino acids
tilted it toward (S)-isomer crystals. It was clarified
that this is due to the asymmetric transformation of p-anisoin in the mother liquor by the enantiomeric amino acids. The
same slight asymmetric transformation in the solution phase was observed
in α-hydroxyketones such as acetoin. Though the Soai reaction
for an autocatalytic and asymmetric amplification system in the presence
of a variety of chiral sources is famous, the crystallization-induced
dynamic deracemization of p-anisoin provides the
first chirality control system to be tilted by the enantioselective
crystallization derived from many chiral additives.